


Shadows of Doubt

by SWGoji2001



Series: Star Wars: Galaxy-121 [1]
Category: Alien Series, Aliens vs Predators Series - Various Authors, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Corporate Espionage, F/F, Multiverse, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Xenomorphs (Alien), do not copy to another site, kaesoka
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-19 11:15:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 61,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21882802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SWGoji2001/pseuds/SWGoji2001
Summary: What happens when the huntress becomes the hunted? A distress call brings the Rebellion's best intelligence agent to a crippled space station over a mining colony. Facing a new, terrifying alien species, Rebels and Imperials must work together to survive while Ahsoka Tano struggles save herself and those she cares about despite old wounds being reopened.
Relationships: Barriss Offee & Ahsoka Tano (past friendship), Kaeden Larte/Ahsoka Tano
Series: Star Wars: Galaxy-121 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1576369
Comments: 57
Kudos: 41





	1. The Distress Call

**Thorilide Mine, Tartarus, Erebos System**

**3 BBY, a few months before the Mission to Malachor…**

Without a doubt, mining had to be one of the most unappetizing jobs in the galaxy. Long hours in cold, dark, and narrow tunnels miles below the surface of a planet made Malana Hunter wonder why anyone would want to do this job.

She was glad, however, that she was only a supervisor. One of Kelland Mining's mining engineers, she didn't have to do a quarter of the hard work that the miners under her supervision did, but she still had to spend time in these forsaken tunnels. And it paid the bills, especially this mine.

Tartarus was one of those rare planets where the rare mineral thorilide could be found. It was used for military ships or something like that. Hunter didn't care why the Empire wanted it or what they did with it, they wanted it and Tartarus could provide it.

The problem was, it was damn difficult stuff to get. They had to extract it from the rock in crystalline form, then melt the crystals in the xenoboric acid held in vats in the refinery on Charon Station, the base of operations for Kelland's operations on Tartarus.

A blast of heat hit her in the face as the large, railed plasma torch fired, melting the rock in front of and above them. As it turned off and the molten rock began to cool and harden overhead, the miners pressed on with mechanical jack-hammers, chipping away at the next stones in front of them. They still had some of the old-fashioned picks, but those were only used when the hammers ran out of power. No one in their right mind would want to use those anymore.

There was a shout from up ahead. One of the miners had found something and it was her job as a mining engineer to identify it. Perhaps it was another thorilide crystal to transport back to the surface. That would be nice, they hadn't found any yet on this level, even though it had only been opened a few days ago.

"What is it?"

The miner, a burly Nikto male, pointed to a large crack that had opened. "This crack just formed boss. I think there's an opening behind it."

Sure enough, Hunter could feel a slight breeze coming out of the crack. "Let's see what this is," she gestured for him to open it further. The Nikto raised his hammer and drilled away, widening the opening until a whole section of rock gave way, creating a narrow opening.

Everyone stopped working at the sound of rock crashing down on the other side and they all stared into the empty, black void. "What do you think this is boss?" The Nikto asked again.

"Only one way to find out," Hunter said, returning to the railed plasma torch. Finding what she wanted, she clipped a cord onto the cart the plasma torch sat on and secured the other end to her mining harness. "We go in," she said as she repelled down into the void.

The opening dropped down slightly to a ledge and Hunter flicked on the large, portable lamp that a miner handed down to her. It was basically a small floodlight, much better than the small headlamp on her helmet.

The ceiling of the cavern before her glowed green, most likely from the species of glowworm that she had seen on a couple other levels of this mine and in several others. The glow from the ceiling combined with the floodlight she held illuminated something…

"Holy shit," said one of the miners who had climbed down next to her. "It's huge!"

There was no way for Hunter to judge just how large the cavern before them really was. There was no frame of reference for her. What lay before them was so awesome, so… alien, it could have been several times the size of Charon Station. It appeared… organic, but also like it could be carved from the rock encasing them all. Time had eroded it, its surfaces smoothed by millenia.

Hunter toggled her comlink to call the lift operator. The mine blocked all long-range and surface communications, but it would work for everyone on the same level. There were call-boxes at each turbolift that were wired, so they could reach the surface.

"Send a signal to Captain Barnes. We've found something… something alien."

* * *

_ **Tantive IV** _ **, several weeks later…**

Sometimes Bail Organa felt like he was drowning in work. Life as a senior member of the Imperial Senate was difficult enough, but add in his… extracurricular activities and Bail was surprised that he got any sleep at all. Leia was old enough now that she took on some of his responsibilities, both official and unofficial, but that only added to his stress. The thought that she might someday end up imprisoned and tortured by the Emperor for treason was worse than the thought of himself suffering the same fate.

His personal holocom that sat on his desk chimed. Someone wanted to talk to him, and based on the caller ID, it was something that needed to be discussed off the record. This wasn't his work terminal that he knew would upload every call and transmission to the Imperial Archives, he wasn't stupid. Turning it on, he greeted his agent. "Senator Organa."

"Greetings, Senator," came the respectful reply of Chardri Tage, one of Bail's oldest and most trusted agents. "We're about halfway through our humanitarian mission when we picked up a weeks-old signal from Kelland Mining at Charon Station. Tamsin and I recommend sending someone to check it out, it's a key fulcrum to mining operations in that sector."

"Understood," Bail responded, recognizing what Tage really wanted him to do. He thought the mysterious Rebel Intelligence operative known to most only as 'Fulcrum' should be sent to investigate whatever was happening on Charon Station. But why? "What was the signal?"

"Transmitting now, Senator," Tage said, and Bail saw that an audio file had been sent. "Tamsin and I will advise when we reach our destination."

"Thank you, Tage. Out."

The call cut out and Bail was left alone in his office again. Turning on one of his private datapads, Bail uploaded Tage's transmission and noticed that it had been sent weeks ago, only being received now by Tage. Intrigued, he hit 'Play'.

He was not prepared for what he heard…

"_This is Charon Station, base of operations for the Kelland Mining Company in Erebos system, requesting immediate aid. … _[Blaster fire and screaming] _Crew and mining teams down to seventeen surviving members._ [Static] … _discovered something on the surface of Tartarus, attacked, dropship CS-02 crashed Charon Station. _[Explosions, more blaster fire, and more screaming] _Many systems damaged, environment stable but _they _were released… _[Static] _Second dropship CS-01 docked and isolated, more of _them… [Static] _hopefully…_ [Static] _contained. They... _[Static] _inside the miners… _[Static] … _their chests. Estimate… _[Static] _We're making… last stand… All channels… _[Screeching, sound of rushing winds] [Disconnect]"

It cut off after that screeching. Bail just sat and stared in shock at the transcript that printed out on the datapad.

Tage was right. This needed to be investigated. And Bail knew the right person for the job:

Fulcrum.

* * *

The scanners on the bridge of the _Tantive IV_ began to chirp. Out here in the void of deep space, away from both major systems and hyperspace routes, the _Tantive IV_ was as isolated as you could get. There was only one reason that the scanners would go off: they had detected an incoming realspace reversion. Sure enough, a few seconds later, there was a burst of light out in the void of space as a starship reverted from hyperspace to realspace. Scans detected that it was a RZ-1 Interceptor, more commonly referred to as an 'A-Wing' because of its distinctive appearance.

Captain Raymus Antilles stood on the bridge as the A-Wing neared. The A-Wing hailed the larger CR90 corvette as it approached and Captain Antilles answered the call. "Incoming A-Wing, this is the _Tantive IV_. Please identify."

"Hello _Tantive IV,_ this is Fulcrum. Transmitting clearance code."

A few seconds later, one of the pilots signaled Captain Antilles that the codes were confirmed. Captain Antilles hailed the A-Wing again. "Confirmed, Fulcrum. Proceed to the starboard airlock. Welcome aboard."

Captain Antilles had only met Fulcrum a couple of times. He had stormed in on her first meeting with Senator Organa on this ship about 15 years ago. He was one of only a few people who knew what Fulcrum looked like. He didn't know her name, only that she was supposedly a former Jedi who had escaped the Emperor's purge. If Fulcrum was called in, you knew the situation was urgent.

The airlock hissed as the pressures on both sides equalized. The door rose with a hydraulic hiss and the Rebel Spymaster stepped towards him, twin lightsabers dangling from her belt.

Captain Antilles saluted Fulcrum, which she returned and he offered a hand. "Welcome aboard, Fulcrum."

"Thank you, Captain," Fulcrum replied. "Bail said it was urgent?"

"Yes, ma'am," Captain Antilles responded as he stepped aside to allow Fulcrum past. "He's in his office. I trust you remember the way?"

"Yes, Captain. Thank you." With that, Fulcrum began to make her way to speak to Senator Organa.

Captain Antilles nodded and returned to the bridge. Whatever business Fulcrum had with the Senator was theirs and theirs alone. He just flew the ship.

* * *

Fulcrum stood outside the personal quarters of Bail Organa on the _Tantive IV_. Knocking twice, she waited to hear Bail's muffled voice say "Come in," before she entered.

Bail was sitting behind his desk, the same one that she had sat in when she had surprised him 15 years ago. He looked tired, as if he hadn't had a good night's sleep in years. However, that was to be expected from an Imperial Senator who also happened to be one of the founders of the Rebellion.

"Hello Bail, you're not looking well."

Another person would have snapped at her for that comment, but Bail merely gave her a tired smile. "Nice to see you too, Fulcrum," he gestured at the open seat across from him. "Please, take a seat."

She did and Bail put down his datapad. "How have you been doing, Ahsoka?"

Fulcrum, in reality Ahsoka Tano, former Padawan of the Jedi Order, former Commander of the 501st Legion, and current Rebel Intelligence Officer, shrugged. "As good as I could be. I've been tracking down what the Inquisitorius wanted with those force-sensitive infants."

"Yes," Bail nodded, "thanks to your information, we've been securing and hiding force-sensitive children across the galaxy. But that's not why I called you here."

Ahsoka nodded, her montrals swaying slightly with the movement. "I didn't think it was. You said it was urgent. What's up?"

Bail gestured to a datapad and she picked it up. At Bail's urging, she played the audio file that was already pulled up. She frowned and hit the play button again when the tape had finished. Bail winced at the explosions and the strange screeching at the end.

"What am I listening to?" Ahsoka asked.

Bail sighed. "You remember Chardri Tage and Tamsin? They received this signal during a covert supply drop to a Rebel cell in the Outer Rim. It's a few weeks old and comes from the Erebos System. The Kelland Mining Corporation has a mining operation on one of the planets there: Tartarus. Orbiting Tartarus is a space station in geosynchronous orbit called Charon Space Station. It's the origin of the signal."

"Okay," Ahsoka said with a confused frown on her face. "Why do you need me then?"

"Officially, Charon Station is a base of operations for Kelland Mining. However, it's also the location of a Rebellion medical station," Bail explained. "Kelland Mining is owned by a Senator who's sympathetic to our cause, so he allowed us to put a covert medical station there. The person in charge of Charon Station is a Rebel, and there are several other Rebel personnel, mainly medical personnel. We also get a cut of thorilide mined from Tartarus for use in our starships.

"If something happened to Charon Station, we need to know."

"Of course," Ahsoka agreed. "But what about the distress call? How are we only hearing this now if it was sent out weeks ago?"

"Erebos is isolated, located on the edge of Wild Space. The signal came from a local transmitter, much weaker than what you'd expect for a space station. Tage only picked it up because he went off the main hyperspace routes to avoid Imperial patrols."

Something was still off though, and Ahsoka voiced her concerns. "They said they discovered something in the mines and that a dropship caused '_them'_ and '_they'_ to escape onto the station. What do you think they mean?"

"I have no idea, Ahsoka." Bail answered truthfully. That was something Ahsoka liked about Bail, despite being a politician, he often told the truth. "But we have to assume something went terribly wrong and that there are still hostiles on the station. You're our best warrior, so I thought you'd be the best for the job."

Ahsoka thought it over for a moment, then nodded as she stood up. "I'll investigate and tell you if there are any survivors left."

* * *

As Ahsoka detached her A-Wing from the _Tantive IV_, a million thoughts ran through her head. It was clear that she was venturing into unknown territory. Programing her navicomputer for the multiple jumps needed to reach the Erebos System distracted her somewhat, but the sounds and message in the distress signal disturbed Ahsoka.

As the stars elongated into starlines and were replaced by the swirling vortex of hyperspace, Ahsoka went over the transcript of the message. It had been badly garbled by static, but certain words and phrases chilled her blood.

'… _discovered something on the surface of Tartarus, attacked…'_ Obviously, the mining teams had found something on the planet that had attacked them and somehow made its way up to Charon Station. Probably on one or both of the dropships that were mentioned. The voice from the signal said that CS-02 released '_them'_ onto Charon Station when it crashed into the space station itself.

Who were '_them'_? And what did '_inside the miners'_ have to do with it?

What she did know was that there were seventeen survivors as of a few weeks ago. Hopefully, there would still be that many when she got there.

* * *

A couple days later, Ahsoka's A-Wing dropped out of hyperspace in the Erebos System. She could still detect a signal emanating from one of the planets closer to the star that she assumed was named Erebos. The transmitter was probably playing on a loop.

Locking onto it, Ahsoka fired the thrusters on her A-Wing and flew towards Tartarus. As she got closer, what she saw took her breath away.

Charon Station lay before her, or at least, what was left of Charon Station lay before her. Charon Station was somewhat tubular with docking bays along each side. The station was large, but from the info Bail had given her before she left, it was mostly automated. Towards one end was a rise in the superstructure with a circular room with windows all around it. That must've been the control center. The windows were shattered, fragments of glass floating in space around it. Surrounding the station was a field of debris, probably the shuttle that crashed into the station. The station itself appeared to be dying a slow death, large gashes in the hull. Whole sections appeared to have been vented to space.

Below the command center was the worst damage, most likely where the shuttle had impacted. Whole chunks of the station had been torn away.

She reached out with the Force, trying to sense for any signs of life or activity. She could sense some signs of life on the station. Maybe seven or eight life forms? But were they survivors from Charon Station's crew or the hostiles that had attacked them?

Ahsoka didn't know at the moment, but she knew she'd find out soon. Ahsoka decided to send off a quick message to Senator Organa. It said: '_Life forms detected. Unsure whether friendly or hostile. Stand by for confirmation. Fulcrum.'_

Regardless if there had been survivors, Ahsoka needed to retrieve the evidence that the Rebellion had been operating on Charon Station. She still needed to get onboard the station and the command center in particular. That meant she'd need to do go EVA.

The cockpit of an A-Wing was cramped, but it was large enough for Ahsoka to wriggle into a spacesuit packed into the A-Wing's small cargo compartment. She took off her lightsabers as she put on the suit, clipping them onto the spacesuit's belt. With a few hours of air available in her suit, she programmed her A-Wing to hold position away from Charon Station. If she needed a quick evac, she could call it back and it would arrive in a matter of minutes.

Ahsoka pressurized her spacesuit and bled off the air inside the cockpit of her A-Wing, equalizing the pressure with the vacuum of space outside. She popped the hatch and slid the canopy open, leaving her starfighter for the void of space.

Kicking off, Ahsoka began to spacewalk to the remains of Charon Station. She laughed internally. The last time she had done this was to sneak onto the _Tantive IV_ and surprise Senator Organa 15 years ago. Using the small thrusters on the back of her spacesuit, she maneuvered her way towards one of the larger gashes in the hull. Reaching the wound, she deftly slid inside to find a scene of utter devastation.

Power was off in the section, so the lights weren't functioning. The artificial gravity was, for some reason, though. Ahsoka toggled the flashlights on her helmet and turned around in a circle, taking stock of her surroundings. Carbon scoring peppered the walls. A firefight had obviously occurred here. But the floor appeared to have been melted in some places, with a hole having been bored down into a small hull breach.

She moved on, turning a corner at a junction and coming across something strange that covered the walls. At first, it was thin and sporadic, but as she continued it became thicker and more widespread until it completely coated the corridor. Small craters had been blasted in the coating by blasters, so the firefight had continued down into here. The coating itself was curious: a homogeneous substance that had random bits of technology and debris embedded in it and… what was…?

Ahsoka gasped in shock as a human skull gazed back at her from inside the substance. She jumped back and ignited her lightsabers, the blades igniting and shimmering silently in the vacuum. The white blades cast ethereal shadows everywhere, not just in front of her like her suit lights had done.

Slowly, she continued to advance, moving towards the command center using the schematics for the station given to her by Bail. They were projected onto the inside of her spacesuit helmet in a small heads-up display. More craters in the walls were joined by explosion damage. The substance on the walls had been melted by the heat, then solidified again. What had happened here?

She found that her way had been blocked by a collapse. A large jumble of debris had… no, it wasn't a collapse. It was a barricade. Random bits and pieces of debris had been welded and fused together and to the walls and ceiling.

She couldn't sense anyone on the other side of the barrier. And if it was anything like what she had seen, the pressure there would be vacuum as well. Ahsoka plunged her blades deep into the barrier, slowly but steadily carving a hole in the welded detritus. Completing a circle large enough for her to crawl through, Ahsoka withdrew her blades and pulled on it with the Force. The cut-out slid towards her and fell to the floor.

Ahsoka waited a moment to see if anything would come through, but there was nothing. No movement.

She was at a disadvantage here. Togruta didn't hear things in the same way as humans did. Their montrals detected sound waves through echolocation. It was what made them excellent hunters on their homeworld of Shili. They could detect the locations of other things and people ultrasonically. But here…

Here she was in a vacuum. There was no medium for sound to travel through. No sound; no echolocation. She was effectively half-blind.

Crawling through the hole she had made, Ahsoka turned to the large room on her left. It appeared to be a kind of barracks: many bunks pushed up against the walls, clothes hanging from improvised clotheslines or stacked on top of footlockers, half-eaten food, and posters of various people, places, and things mounted on the walls.

On the other side of the hallway was what appeared to be a recreation area of some kind. A small bar, exercise equipment, and surprisingly, some old-fashioned pool tables with actual physical balls and wooden cues.

It was ghostly. A few weeks ago, this whole area would have been teeming with life. Miners milling around and relaxing after a long shift down in the mines on Tartarus. Now, it was abandoned.

There was no one here. No one alive at any rate. This whole area had been vented to space and was vacuum. Ahsoka quickly moved on.

Looking at the maps on her suit's HUD, Ahsoka realized that she was nearing the station's ruined command center. A few more turns and she'd be there.

Maybe there she'd find some answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone and welcome to the first part of most likely the last series that I'll write. Since I'm writing two stories at once ("The Forsaken Knights", check it out on my profile if you haven't read it!) I'll probably be alternating chapters between stories.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Not much action, but exposition is needed. If you did enjoy it, please consider leaving a kudos or a comment and spread the word to anyone who you think would also like this as well!


	2. Deserted Ruins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka investigates the command center of Charon Station and learns some more of what happened to the space station, encountering a survivor along the way.

** _Charon Station_ ** **, Outside the Command Center…**

The door of the command center appeared to have been welded shut like the barricade she had cut through back in the living area of Charon Station, but here, the blast doors had been forced inwards somehow. That was startling. The doors to the command center were five centimeter thick durasteel, yet they had still been bent inward.

The door was also pitted and marred by corrosion damage. Portions of it had been melted away. What had happened here?

Ahsoka didn’t know the answer to that. To be honest, she was scared to find out what had done this. She pulled herself through the gap to find a scene of chaos.

Cups and mugs had been overturned, their contents long since evaporated in the vacuum the command center now was. Papers had been strewn everywhere. Some were crumpled, others pristine. Some were speckled with blood. The windows appeared to have been blown out from the inside, carbon scoring and scorch marks were everywhere. There were holes everywhere in the floor with the same kind of corrosion damage she had seen on the blast doors.

Ahsoka moved forward, keeping her lightsabers ignited and ready. She doubted anything would still be here, but she had yet to locate those life forms she had sensed from the cockpit of her A-Wing. They were somewhere below her and… she turned to face where the signals were coming from: over by where the medbay would be according to her schematics.

Ahsoka made a mental note to head there after she finished up at the command center.

As Ahsoka expected, there was no power in the terminals. And since she had anticipated that situation, she had brought a portable battery pack with her. Ahsoka would never pretend to be as good with technology as her old master was, but she knew enough to power up a terminal and slice into it.

Finding the command options, Ahsoka pulled up the most recent logs. The last one was from… four weeks ago, shortly before the distress signal had been sent. Scrolling through, she noticed something odd.

The latest logs had been made every one to two days or so, while all the ones before then had been made weekly. She also noticed that the person who had submitted the logs was different, changing once the logs became more frequent.

On a hunch, Ahsoka selected the last weekly log, and a female voice played from the speakers in her helmet.

_ “Charon Station Log 1138. Captain Lucy Barnes. We just received a transmission from the surface. Apparently, one of the mining crews clearing the new level just discovered some kind of… actually, we don’t really know what to make of it. _

_ “Hunter said it was something alien. Not just to humans like her and myself, but completely alien. But whatever it was she found, it doesn’t belong there. They claimed it was organic, not rock like the walls of the mine and the cavern it was in. All we know right now is that it's a structure of some kind.  _

_ “Regardless, we’ll be investigating it for sure. If it is completely alien, it might be evidence of some unknown civilization. You know, I always dreamed of things like this. When I was young, I dreamed of exploring the Unknown Regions and making first contact with alien civilizations. I thought I had missed that chance, but now? Who knows what could be learned from the ruins?” _

Interesting. Ahsoka knew who Lucy Barnes was from the files Bail had given her. Barnes was the rebel officer in command here on Charon Station. She was well-qualified. A former separatist, she never gave up in her fight against the Republic, even when it changed into the Empire.

So, the mining teams had found alien ruins in the mines of Tartarus. That didn’t explain, however, why the station was falling apart. Perhaps the other logs would explain more. She queued up the next log, but this time the voice was male.

_ “Charon Station Log. Captain Barnes is dead along with Security Chief Fazio. Something went wrong, terribly wrong down there. We lost contact with the surface a day ago. Then, a few hours ago, we detected two shuttles leaving the surface. The visual and audio feeds from them were… they were horrible. The miners looked like they had been shot and those… those things…  _

_ “Captain Barnes and Fazio went down to the docking bays along with a few other security personnel, but dropship CS-02 lost control and crashed into the station. They all died, vented into space. Somehow, CS-01 managed to dock safely, but it won’t do anything to help those on it. We can’t let them on board, not with those things onboard. _

_ “That isn’t the worst part. Those things on CS-02… a couple got loose on the station. Hunter was right, there is something down there incredibly alien to all of us. But instead of showing us Barnes’ wish, unknown secrets of the universe, all it’s showing us is how we may die. Die in the form of claws, tails, and teeth. So many damn teeth.” _

That would certainly explain the wreckage and most of the damage that Ahsoka had seen. The miners must have discovered the aliens when they were investigating the wreckage of the ship, and the aliens must have reacted violently to them. The log mentioned that a few miners appeared to have been shot in the chest, but then again, it also said that death had come to them in claws and teeth. 

The next few logs chronicled the fall of Charon Station. Apparently, the alien creatures from the surface of Tartarus had grown and started abducting the survivors. Any person who could hold a blaster, including the wounded that were recuperating in the medbay, went hunting for the aliens, killing them where they could, but were steadily being worn down. She also learned why they hadn’t been able to call for help until the end: their transmission system had been destroyed in the dropship crash.

It got to the point where the survivors clustered in two areas: the command center and the medbay. The holds that had at one point been used to refine the thorilide were vented to keep the aliens away from the medbay. The survivors in the command center steadily flushed the xenomorphs towards themselves by venting whole sections of the station with mining explosives, drawing the aliens away from the survivors in the medbay who were mainly civilians.

She finally came to the final log. It painted a grim tale about what had happened in the command center.

_ “This will most likely be the last log of Charon Station. We managed to set up a small transmitter and are recording a distress signal currently. There are seventeen of us left, eight in the medbay and nine of us here. The aliens have nowhere else to go to other than here. All other portions of the station are vented and I’m pretty sure they can’t last long in vacuum. _

_ “ _ [Pounding on the blast doors can be heard] _ They’re here at last. Chances are none of us will escape this fight alive, but if we can take out the aliens, it will be worth it. The others will survive, the doctor was involved in a revolt against the Empire some time ago. She knows how to ration and manage food and keep morale from decaying. They should be okay.  _ [Squealing of the blast doors being bent and shredded is heard] _ At least there will be some form of record. Here we go. _

_ “ _ [Sound of blasterfire, explosions, survivors shouting, aliens screeching, some kind of sizzling like acid on metal] _ Get them all in here! Lure them in! _ [Screams are heard as humans and nikto are mauled by the aliens]  _ Only one more option.  _ [Blasterfire and shattering glass, rushing of winds] [Silence]…”

The log continued to run in silence until most likely power to the terminal had finally died. Ahsoka sat back in her chair, exhaling a breath she didn’t know she was holding. They had all died, but they had taken out the aliens with them.

She knew she would have to go to the medbay now and evacuate the survivors, but her orders from Bail still stood. She pulled out a datapad and connected it to the terminal. She had to copy over any and all files that placed the Rebellion at Charon Station and then delete them. It only took her a few minutes to do so and she paused to check the level of air her suit had left. She had about an hour and 45 minutes of air left. It would take her A-Wing maybe 15 minutes or so to get close enough for her to evacuate.

That wasn’t necessarily a problem. Jedi had the ability to go into a trance, a coma-like state, where she could conserve air for a longer time than a normal person. And while she wasn’t a Jedi anymore, that didn’t stop her from using old Jedi abilities. The only problem was she would be defenseless during that time.

The transfer and deletion of files took about five more minutes and Ahsoka unplugged her datapad and the powerpack. She stood and stretched then turned to exit the blast door she had entered.

She halted in her tracks, reaching out with the Force. There was a life form in this section of the station… and it was coming her way.

* * *

Ahsoka flattened herself against the wall next to the destroyed blast door and held her lightsabers extinguished, but at the ready in case she needed them. She was hoping that this life form was one of the survivors holed up in the medbay, but it could be one of the hostile aliens.

The life form was coming closer and closer and she breathed out, centering herself in the Force and calming her nerves. She felt the life form halt near the door and approach carefully. It slowly moved sideways in a manner that Ahsoka recognized.

The life form was “slicing the pie”, a tactic used by soldiers when they were clearing a room. It was suicide to barge blindly through a door, which would place the soldier in the so-called “fatal funnel”. Instead, the tactic had the soldier move sideways from one wall of the doorframe with their weapon held up and as little of their body presented as a target as they slowly peered into the room one step at a time.

This meant that whoever was next to her had military training. Was it one of the survivors? Or was it a scavenger picking the carcass of the dead space station?

The life form finally moved into her field of view and she identified it as a human male. The human’s eyes widened in shock at her presence and instinct took over. The human jerked his blaster pistol at her and fired a couple of shots.

The twin white blades extended from their hilts in an instant and Ahsoka soundlessly swatted the blaster bolts away from both of them into the ceiling or the floor of the command center. The human’s eyes widened even further and he took off running.

Ahsoka deftly slid through the mangled wreckage of the door and spotted the human retreating. Outstretching a hand, the human was lifted off the ground. He flailed as he realized he was not running on the floor and she spun him so they were looking directly at each other. Ahsoka used the Force and pulled his blaster out of his hand to hers.

She deactivated her blades and slowly lowered him to the ground as she walked towards him. Ahsoka pulled his helmet up against hers--since they were in vacuum, sound wouldn’t travel between them unless it had a medium to travel through. By bringing their helmets together, the sound of Ahsoka’s voice would travel through the air in her helmet, between the glass of their faceplates, and the air in the human’s helmet. They would be able to hear each other, so Ahsoka asked: “Who are you? What’s your name?”

The man swallowed and responded. “Henry. Joseph Henry. Who are you?”

“Fulcrum,” Ahsoka responded. “I’m Rebel Intelligence, sent to investigate a distress signal.”

“They received it?” Henry’s eyes lit up with hope, but it quickly dimmed. Hope was a dangerous thing, and after being stranded on this dying station for weeks, hope could be deadly.

“How many are alive?” Ahsoka asked.

“Myself and seven others, we’ve been holed up in the medbay for weeks,” was Henry’s response. “Let me call them, and tell them we’ve been found.”

He stepped back, reached up, and toggled the radio in his helmet. He spoke for maybe about a minute, before walking back over to Ahsoka. Bringing their helmets back together, he spoke. “The doctor will have the medbay airlock doors open for us. But, we’ll have to go outside and EVA.” Ahsoka nodded and Henry gave her a frequency so they could communicate in vacuum without having to bring their helmets together.

Ahsoka gave him his blaster back and they ventured outside through the shattered windows of the command center. They had made it about halfway there when Henry asked Ahsoka a question. “Are you a Jedi? I thought they’d all been wiped out by the Empire.”

Ahsoka sighed. She should have expected this sooner or later. One of the drawbacks of using a lightsaber was that people always connected them with the Jedi. “I was once. A long time ago. Not anymore.”

“Why not? The Empire?”

“Not entirely,” Ahsoka said. Force, why were they having  _ this _ conversation of all things? “The Jedi and I had a bit of a troubled history. I’d rather not talk about it.”

“Fair enough,” Henry responded, sounding somewhat disappointed. “I never met a Jedi, you know? I was a child when the Clone Wars ended and was always taught that the Jedi were these evil, warmongering warrior monks who tried to overthrow the Republic, but my father said otherwise. He told me that the Jedi were kind and compassionate. That they used their powers selflessly for the good of others. I wanted to be a Jedi back then. The dreams of a rebellious child, I guess?

“What were the Jedi really like?”

_ Fine, _ Ahsoka thought. “Each Jedi was about as different as each person. Some were healers, some were warriors. Some were philosophers and others were teachers. There were some who were really loyal and who wanted to help everyone, while the war corrupted others.”

“I wish I could have met one before the Empire wiped them out. Tell me about the Force.”

_ Great, now you’ve opened a can of worms, Ahsoka. _ Ahsoka shrugged off the insult her inner monologue threw at her. It was obvious that Henry would keep asking questions about the Force and the Jedi. She wasn’t surprised though, the Jedi were always seen as larger than life even when there were over 10,000 of them. To people who couldn’t feel the Force, it was an enigma how the Jedi got their powers.

“The Force is basically an energy field created by life. It surrounds us and binds the universe together. Some people naturally have a connection to it and some have a stronger connection than others. The number of people who can interact and manipulate the Force is small, hence why there were so few Jedi compared to the galactic population.”

Henry seemed to pick up on the frustration in her tone and he wisely dropped the subject. “Hey, sorry to pry. I’ve just always been fascinated with the Jedi. I learned their code, some of their history, and then you showed up with a pair of lightsabers, so I thought you were one.”

“Let’s just drop it for now,” Ahsoka said as they approached the medbay airlock.

Henry gave her a thumbs up. “If you wouldn’t mind though, I’d love to learn more about them later.”

“Possibly. We’ll see.”

He entered a code into a pad next to the door and it slid open to allow them in. Ahsoka had seen special airlocks like this before. It was mainly used for emergency medevacs where the patient couldn’t be moved through the station for some reason or other. It was large enough to accommodate multiple medical capsules.

They floated inside and Henry shut the door with another command pad on the inside. Gravity returned and there was a hiss, muted at first, but then louder and louder as air was bled into the vacuum they occupied to equalize the pressure. Henry gave her a signal and they both removed their helmets.

Henry smiled at her as they were scanned for contaminants. “The doctor will be glad to see you. We were beginning to wonder if anyone would ever find us out here.”

“Who is ‘The Doctor’?” Ahsoka asked.

“Oh, she’s amazing. You’ll love her. Used to be a part of a rebellion on a small farming moon and they had to hide out in the hills for weeks rationing supplies. She’s kept us alive, I don’t know what would’ve happened if she wasn’t here.”

The door hissed open and Ahsoka immediately took stock of her surroundings. The medical bay was clean, but also cluttered with supplies. Four humans and a twi’lek immediately turned to look at her and Henry and their faces lit up as well. They were all human with a variety of skin tones and hairstyles. There were three men and two women, one of which was the twi’lek, present, but there were also two others unaccounted for, if there really were eight survivors.

One of them, a blonde haired, light skinned human female, started cheering and the others joined in and rushed over to Ahsoka with shouts of “We’re saved!” or “We’ll live!”

Thankfully, a calm, but firm female voice cut through. “Relax people. Give our newcomer some space.”

Ahsoka was thankful for that, she was feeling a bit overwhelmed there. That voice sounded familiar though, as if she had heard it before. She felt a familiar presence in the Force… no! Wait! There were two familiar presences she felt. One was the individual striding towards the cluster of survivors. Ahsoka assumed she was the ‘Doctor’ Henry had spoken about.

“So you’re Fulcrum? I kind of thought you were multiple people, seeing how critical you are to the Rebellion. Also kind of hard to imagine you’d be all the way out here.”

The speaker finally broke through the other survivors and Ahsoka got her first good view of the ‘Doctor’. The woman before her had darkish skin, lighter than Master Windu’s but darker than the clones she used to command, and long braided hair. It clicked immediately who the ‘Doctor’ was.

Images flew through Ahsoka’s mind: Raada, the disastrous raid on the Imperial Compound and subsequent jailbreak, the duel between herself and the Inquisitor that gave her the two lightsabers currently clipped to her belt, and the awkward moment in the Imperial Compound following the second jailbreak she had pulled.

The ‘Doctor’s’ face showed that she had recognized Ahsoka just as Ahsoka had recognized her. They spoke at the same time, their voices a similar shocked tone.

“Kaeden?” “Ahsoka?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Still not a ton of action, but more exposition about the history of what occurred on Charon Station before Ahsoka arrived. And Ahsoka reunites with an old friend at the end!
> 
> If you guys did enjoy it, please consider leaving kudos or a comment and spread the word about this story to your friends as well!


	3. Old Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka learns more about what has occurred on Charon Station from the eight remaining survivors, and, for better or for worse, encounters a few people from her past.

**Medical Bay, Charon Station…**

To say Kaeden Larte was thrilled would be an understatement. They had been stranded and isolated on this dying space station for weeks and rescue had arrived. It wasn’t only that they were being rescued, it was who was rescuing them.

Henry’s message had said that a togruta identifying themselves as ‘Fulcrum’ was on the station. She had heard the name ‘Fulcrum’ before, in transmissions with her sister Miara. Miara had joined a squadron of fighters and had received several missions from a mysterious Rebel Intelligence operative known only as ‘Fulcrum’.

And now this mysterious ‘Fulcrum’ just happened to show up in the command center of a stricken and dying space station. And now Fulcrum was standing in the middle of a throng of survivors excited at the prospect of rescue.

Calling them off of their new arrival wasn’t as easy as Kaeden had hoped, but she managed it nonetheless. It was then that Kaeden got her first good look at their ‘rescuer’ and the thought crossed her mind that she had become one of a few people who knew ‘Fulcrum’s’ face and importance in the Rebellion.

Standing before her was a female togruta who appeared to be in her lower thirties or so. There was something familiar about this togruta, something that Kaeden couldn’t yet place. She didn’t know that many, and those she did know she hadn’t seen in years. The togruta had orangish skin with white markings on her face. She could instantly recognize where the shape of Fulcrum’s insignia had come from, so she had no doubts that this was truly the Rebel Spymaster in the flesh. The togruta had blue and white striped montrals that made her taller than Kaeden was. 

As she locked eyes with ‘Fulcrum’ and saw those beautiful blue irises, something clicked in Kaeden’s mind and instantly Kaeden recognized who she was looking at. She had seen those beautiful eyes before, on a small farming moon fifteen years before. She now noticed the two lightsabers that hung from ‘Fulcrum’s’ belt and she instantly recognized those hilts as well. They had been modified since she had last seen them, the hilts made smoother and more ergonomic, but she knew that if they were ignited they would cast a brilliant white glow across the room like they had in the prison corridor of the Imperial compound on Raada.

Ahsoka Tano. 

Ahsoka kriffing Tano was ‘Fulcrum’!

And Ahsoka Tano was standing right here.  _ Here! _ Right here in front of her!

They spoke as one: “Ahsoka?” “Kaeden?”

Kaeden had often asked herself the question of what she would do if she had ever seen Ahsoka again. Her sister Miara had often teased her for the crush she had developed on the togruta girl when they first met on Raada. Ahsoka had gone by the name Ashla back then and had offered her services as a mechanic, quickly becoming a part of Raada’s small community despite her reclusive nature.

And then the Empire had arrived and Ashla had revealed that she was much much more than a mechanic looking for a quiet place to set up shop. Kaeden’s mechanic friend Ashla was actually Jedi fugitive Ahsoka Tano. She had been forced to flee Raada, going who knows where for months while the Imperial Inquisitor slaughtered her fellow insurgents and subjected her to even more torture.

But Ahsoka had come back for her, not only killing the Inquisitor to save her and Miara, but evacuating the entire farming settlement on Raada.

And then Ahsoka had disappeared again. This time for over a decade.

Kaeden had never figured out where her friend had gone or if she was even still alive. Miara had found nothing and begged her to move on, but Kaeden had always continued to hold onto the hope that she would see Ahsoka again. And now, Ahsoka was here before her. 

There was a saying that absence makes the heart grow fonder. In this moment, Kaeden believed it completely and launched herself at her old friend, wrapping her in a massive hug.

Ahsoka tensed slightly, obviously shocked to see Kaeden here and at the impact, but she then cracked a smile and laughed, returning the embrace.

“Ahsoka? What are you doing here? You’re Fulcrum?” The questions flew out of Kaeden’s mouth almost faster than she could talk.

Ahsoka laughed again and Kaeden’s heart filled with joy at the sound. Oh, she had missed that beautiful noise so much over the past decade. “Yep, it’s me, and I came to investigate the distress signal.”

Kaeden stepped back, her face falling slightly. “It’s just you?”

“So far,” Ahsoka nodded, “Yes, but I can comm for a ship to get out here to evac you all.”

“Damn it!” Yelled one of the survivors on the other side of the medbay. “I told you it was too good to be true!”

Kaeden whirled to face the speaker and she yelled back: “That’s enough, Palmer! We’re alive and have contact with the outside galaxy, so we have a chance!”

Ahsoka looked between them with a concerned look on her face. “Is something wrong?”

“Yeah, we don’t have that long!” Palmer yelled again.

Kaeden sighed and brought a hand to massage her temples. “Follow me, Ahsoka.”

Kaeden guided Ahsoka through the throng of survivors in the medbay, introducing them. Ahsoka had met Henry the security officer, but there were six others besides Kaeden and Henry. “The shouter over there with the heartwarming personality,” Kaeden pointed at the human male leaning against a wall, he had cropped black hair and tanned skin, “is Louis Palmer. An engineer for the Rebellion recuperating here after being caught in an explosion. We think it kriffed up his head a bit.” Palmer made a rude gesture at that which Kaeden shrugged off with a chuckle.

“We’ve got two more engineers,” Kaeden indicated a fair skinned human male with brown hair and eyes who held himself in a slight aristocratic way, “Nathan Girard. He’s Alderaanian which explains the stick up his ass. And then there’s Charon Station’s Chief Engineer, Hoop,” a dark skinned human male looked up from working on a bundle of wiring at the sound of his nickname being called and nodded at Ahsoka before returning to his work. “They’ve kept this part of the station livable so far, so you have them to thank for the electricity and heating.”

Kaeden then led Ahsoka over to two females, a human and a twi’lek, who were currently stooped over a few datapads and calculations. “Ahsoka, this is our science officer, Aola Rynn,” Kaeden indicated the blue twi’lek with who was fidgeting with her hands, “and Malana Hunter, one of the mining engineers.” Hunter was short, but lean with short cropped blonde hair. Her eyes were tired, but haunted. Kaeden knew why they were, she had been the one to discover the ship. The ship that had brought this doom upon them all.

Rynn handed Kaeden a datapad. Her voice had a nervous pitch to it. “The latest telemetry data, Kaeden. It doesn’t look good.”

Kaeden glanced over it, heart sinking with every line. She was no pilot and didn’t understand the ins and outs of it all, but she had learned some from Miara. She handed it to Ahsoka, who still had a confused look on her face. “You could call for a rescue vessel all you want, Ahsoka, but it’ll do no good,” she said. “When the dropship crashed into Charon Station, it knocked us into a decaying orbit. We’re only a couple days away from nosediving into the surface of Tartarus. Any rescue ship will get here too late to find anything but twisted shards of debris in the sand and possibly a few scattered flecks of body matter.”

“That’s a wonderful image,” Ahsoka said, studying the telemetry data.

“Well, when you’ve been stranded on a dying space station with killer alien lifeforms for weeks, everything doesn’t appear all rainbows and green grass fields.” Palmer called from across the room.

“What about escape pods?”

Kaeden shook her head. “They were destroyed when CS-02 crashed into the station. Took them all out. They’re nothing but shrapnel surrounding the station now.”

Ahsoka was silent and had her eyes closed as if she was thinking hard. Suddenly, they snapped open, “Wait. There’s another dropship, right? Not the one that crashed, but one that docked safely. Can’t you use that as a lifeboat until an evac ship arrives?”

The survivors in the medlab all fell silent and stared at each other. Ahsoka stood there, looking back and forth between them all in confusion. Kaeden guessed her eyebrows would have been furled if togruta had hair.

Hoop made eye contact with her and nodded slightly. “Show her.”

Kaeden look around at the others and they also nodded. Turning back to Ahsoka, Kaeden took the datapad and navigated through the files until she found what she wanted. Kaeden pulled up the video file and paused before handing it to Ahsoka, looking around at all the other survivors. “If any of you want to leave the room before it starts, leave now. You don’t have to reexperience this.”

None of them left, but Kaeden could see the sadness in their eyes. To be honest, she didn’t want to play this video, but she had to appear strong. For all their sakes.

Kaeden handed the datapad to Ahsoka, who hesitantly took it. She pressed the play button and Kaeden prepared herself to endure those awful events again.

* * *

The video file Kaeden had pulled up on the datapad happened to be a recordings from the dropships. The one for CS-01, which was currently docked, had audio from the dropship. The one for CS-02 did not, but did have a voiceover from the Charon Station crew monitoring it at the time. 

Ahsoka played the one for CS-01 and a blurred image of the pilot came up. It was hard to see anything past him, the vibrations from pushing the dropship to its limit blurred the image. The pilot was yelling into the radio and Ahsoka turned up the volume.

_ “The other crew found something. Something horrible! Few of them… the others are okay right now, but… for the love of! Need to get to dock!” _

_ “Jones, what about zero-two?” _ Came a female voice that Ahsoka didn’t recognize as one of the survivors. From the authority in it though and similarity to the logs she had discovered, Ahsoka guessed it was the voice of the Rebel officer in charge, Lucy Barnes.

_ “Zero-two? Left the same time, but… something got on board, and…” _

The screen and audio dissolved into static. Ahsoka queued up the next video, for CS-02, and a split screen video came up with views of the pilot and passenger compartment…

There was blood. The pilot was screaming silently in her seat, terrified but determined at the same time. Her eyes were glued to the windscreen. Behind her, shadows thrashed and twisted. Three miners knelt behind the elevated cockpit, holding mining picks before them. They were waving and lashing out at something, but their target was just out of sight. There was a fourth miner who held a small plasma torch.

Ahsoka could hear Hunter’s voice:  _ “They can’t use that in there. If he does he’ll… he’ll… what the kriff?” _

The camera panned to show several of the miners strapped into their seats. Their heads were tilted back, mouths frozen open in silent screams of agony. Their chests were a mess of blood and ripped clothing, fractured ribs protruding through mutilated flesh. One of them, a Nikto, still writhed and shook as something burst out of his chest. Pulling itself out, a smooth curved image glimmered in the artificial light, shining with blood.

There were other miners splayed on the floor of the compartment, seemingly dead. Small, cat-size shapes darted over and around them. Blood was splashed everywhere: the floor, the walls, it even dripped from the ceiling.

Towards the back of the dropship, three of the strange shapes were charging again and again against something. A door or a bulkhead, maybe? The door was denting already, one part caving in from the other side while the things pounded the opposite.

_ “That’s two inch durasteel!”  _ said one voice that Ahsoka didn’t recognize, probably one of the crew who had died in the command center.

_“They need help.”_ _“I think they’re beyond that by now.”_ Ahsoka recognized the second voice as Rynn’s, but not the first. Probably one of the ones who died in the command center.

_ “Turn it off.” _ Came someone’s voice, but the video stayed on. Ahsoka understood why: morbid curiosity. It was like a repulsor-trainwreck. They couldn’t look away even despite knowing that it was going to be gruesome. Ahsoka found that she couldn’t turn it off either.

The door or panel that the shapes were smashing against gave in and something burst out of it. One of the miners holding a mining pick jerked and was lifted off the ground, blood flying from his back as something impaled him through the chest and threw him unceremoniously into a wall. The miner with the plasma torch jumped to the side, away from the thrashing shadows. Something scuttled over the camera, blocking everything from sight.

When the camera was clear again, the plasma torch had been ignited. The torch flared brightly and a jet of fire erupted from the nozzle spewing burning plasma in a stream before it. The jet of fire surged across the cabin, engulfing the strapped-down bodies of the miners. Clothes burned and flesh charred. One of the miners writhed in their bindings and the thing bursting from his chest became a mass of flame streaking across the compartment.

Then the plasma jet pivoted up and around, right at the camera. Everything went white and Ahsoka turned her attention to the cockpit view. The pilot was on fire. Both cameras were shut off almost instantly and Ahsoka was thankful for that, but the voiceover did not.

_ “Barnes! We can’t let those ships dock. There are things on board! Monsters! Everyone’s dead on zero-two.” _

_ “Oh no… too late!” _

_ “Barnes! Fazio! Get out of there! Get as far away from the docking bay as you can now! Run!  _ RUN!”

The file ended with the sound of an explosion and the groan of metal as the stricken dropship CS-02 ploughed into Charon Station. And unleashed hell.

* * *

Ahsoka fell back into a chair and let the datapad fall into her lap. She had been expecting something terrible from Kaeden’s actions before the video was played, but this…  _ this! _ This was much worse.

Kaeden broke the silence that had ensued. “CS-01 somehow managed to dock. We got footage from CS-01 shortly after that, the miners were all dead, and there were three of the creatures in the back behind the pilot. After a day… one of those things erupted from Jones’ stomach and they dragged his corpse out of view. 

“We prevented them from boarding; Hoop, Palmer, and Girard disabled the airlock’s locking mechanism and pulled out the power source. They did the same for the docking arm door and made the whole thing vacuum. We doubt those things can breath in vacuum, but who knows?

“What we didn’t know was that a couple of the things on CS-02 had managed to make it onto Charon Station, somehow. I have no clue how they did. People started disappearing and we decided to split up. All civilians were to come here to the medbay while the rest holed up in the command center. The wounded rebel soldiers on station were given the option to stay with us here, but no one did. They all volunteered to hunt the aliens. Henry drew the short straw of standing as protection from aliens, scavengers, pirates, and whatever else might prey on a stricken space station. We bled the atmosphere from all compartments leading from the alien infested areas to the medbay and welded all the doors and vents to prevent them from getting in.

“The others systematically flushed the aliens towards the command center. After they cleared a section they would bleed it into vacuum and move on. They didn’t count on how many aliens were left alive though.”

“I know what they did,” Ahsoka said, “they decompressed the command center and spaced everything, themselves included.”

“Heroes, all of them,” Henry nodded, his voice sad. “But even if we restored air to the depressurized holds, there are still four of those aliens in the dropship. All we have for weapons are my blaster and a couple plasma torches and mining charges that are in Hold 3.”

“But now you can add the Force and my lightsabers to that arsenal,” Ahsoka held up one of her lightsabers and ignited it. She noticed the white beams reflected in Kaeden’s eyes as Kaeden grinned at them. No doubt, Kaeden was having a bit of déjà vu, when Ahsoka stormed into an Imperial compound to rescue her. But this time they were on a crippled space station and they would be fighting an unknown alien species instead of Imperials. “So here’s my idea. I’ll call for an extraction ship. While we wait for it to arrive, we rid the dropship of the aliens and use it as a lifeboat. How long can life support in that thing last?”

Hunter answered. As a mining engineer, she made the most trips in the dropships and was the most knowledgeable about them. “We can store food and extra oxygen tanks in it, plenty of room for eight or nine people. Those things were designed to carry a couple dozen. Should at least last for more than a few days, perhaps even a week.”

“Only problem,” came Palmer’s voice, “how are we gonna clear those things out of zero-one?”

“Well we can’t use plasma torches or mining charges inside it. We all saw what happened to zero-two,” said Henry.

“What about the blood?” That comment came from Rynn, and Ahsoka wasn’t surprised that the science officer knew something about the biology. She was surprised about that little factoid, however. “We can’t kill them in zero-one. It’ll make it incapable of space flight.”

“What about it’s blood?” Ahsoka asked.

Rynn sighed. “We believe its blood is some kind of toxic or caustic agent.”

Ahsoka’s mind immediately flashed back to the damage she had found elsewhere in the station: holes seemingly burned in the floor and the blast doors pitted and corroded. “So… acid for blood?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Rynn laughed slightly.

“So we need to lure them out of the dropship? That shouldn’t be too hard. We just need to give them some bait,” Ahsoka said, trying to find an answer to the problems that plagued them. “I’ll do it. With the Force, I can hold my own.”

“You sure about that, Ahsoka?” Kaeden asked, her eyes filled with concern.

Ahsoka nodded and she could feel Kaeden’s nervousness and fear for her wellbeing abate slightly, but it was still there.

“But how do we get rid of them?” came Hunter’s voice. “Just try to shoot them?”

“No,” said Hoop. “If any of that blood melts through the floor, it could cause an explosive decompression that could completely shatter and disconnect the docking tube. We need some way to get them into the airlocks for Bay 1 or 2, where zero-two crashed into the station and space them.”

“One or two I might be able to immobilize with the Force,” Ahsoka said, shaking head. “I doubt I can take out four by myself.”

Girard spoke up for the first time since Ahsoka arrived. “Why don’t we trap them?”

“Trap them? Trap them how? Do we have a box we can put some cheese under to draw them out?” As usual, the retort came from Palmer.

“What about cargo nets?” There was a groan from Palmer accompanied by a yelp as Hoop smacked him upside the head and Girard continued. “We have some high-strength cargo nets in Bay 3 for securing heavy mining loads. They hold tons of equipment and mining yields. Twisted steel core. We could trap the aliens in them and drag them to the airlock with mining picks to space them.”

Nobody provided a counter. Ahsoka looked around at the others, who all turned to Kaeden and nodded and she did in return. “It’s settled then,” Kaeden said. “Get started on preparations immediately.”

Ahsoka grabbed Kaeden’s shoulder before she could walk off. Something was bothering her, so she asked her old friend. “Hey Kaeden, you said there were eight survivors including yourself. There are only six others here. Where’s the last?”

Kaeden’s brow furled and she turned to the others. “Hey guys, where’s Salvia?”

Hoop pointed through a door. “I think she’s in the kitchen preparing food or something like that.”

“Thanks, Hoop,” Kaeden called as she and Ahsoka walked through the door. “Salvia’s a medic,” Kaeden said to Ahsoka, “Works with me. Don’t really know much other than she’s a healer from Mirial, but she does her job and does it well.”

Ahsoka nodded, but something still felt off. There was something… familiar in the Force. Almost like a presence she hadn’t felt in years had come back and was near her. But who from her past could it be?

Kaeden opened the door to a makeshift kitchen and called out to whoever was inside. “Hey Salvia, you in there?”

A soft voice called back. “Come in. What is it, Kaeden?”

“I’ve got good news!” Kaeden said, beaming as she walked in. “We’re getting off this forsaken piece of bantha shit.”

“Hey, this piece of ‘bantha poodoo’ has kept us alive for I don’t know how long at this point. Don’t be so quick to insult it,” came the reply with a light chuckle.

“Yeah yeah,” Kaeden laughed at Salvia’s retort. “But rescue’s finally here!”

Salvia turned around and Ahsoka got her first look at the medic. She was a Mirialan slightly older than herself and Kaeden, but was slightly shorter than Ahsoka. She had long black hair and blue eyes that had long been dimmed by past trauma. Her light green/yellow skin was dotted with black diamond tattoos.

Ahsoka frowned, her brain processing. Suddenly, it all came crashing down upon her who Salvia really was. The familiar appearance, especially of the tattoos on her face and hands. But the kicker was her presence in the Force, dragged down and haunted by guilt and trauma.

Salvia… she was…

A harsh chill crept down from her brain as she recognized where she had met Salvia before. It slithered along her spine down towards her heart and ignited. Anger flared up in her stomach in a red-hot churning wave getting hotter and hotter, more and more potent. It boiled over, burning behind her eyes in a white-hot inferno that clouded her vision with red smoke.

Ahsoka snarled, baring her canines.  _ “You!” _

* * *

Kaeden nearly jumped at the pure hatred and malice that filled Ahsoka’s voice. She had never heard something like that, especially from Ahsoka. Hell, Kaeden thought the room had chilled by a few degrees.

Ahsoka’s eyes blazed with rage as she glared daggers at Salvia, who was frozen to the spot in shock and fear. But it didn’t seem like she was shocked by Ahsoka’s outburst, but more of a shock of seeing someone you would never think you’d see again.

“What the kriff are  _ you _ doing here you backstabbing traitor?!?”

“Ahsoka, I-” Salvia tried to respond but Ahsoka cut her off, stabbing a finger in Salvia’s direction.

“No! I don’t want to hear it! I thought you cared about me! But no, I was no more important to you than my life was to the Jedi!”

Ahsoka’s hand dropped to her belt and Kaeden was afraid that Ahsoka would grab her lightsaber and try to strike Salvia down. She saw Salvia visibly tense… the poor girl. Kaeden stepped in between them.

“Calm down, Ahsoka! What’s gotten into you?”

But she might as well have been talking to the void, for Ahsoka didn’t seem to hear her. She just yelled at Salvia again, eyes glistening with unshed tears. “You betrayed me! I trusted you and you betrayed me! I should… I should…” 

Kaeden saw Ahsoka’s hand twitch up, as if she wanted to extend it, but she stopped immediately, her expression now one of shock and fear. The tears burst from Ahsoka’s eyes and she ran off back into the medbay.

Kaeden turned to Salvia, who was still stunned speechless. She had known Ahsoka’s name though, so the two of them must have some history, but what it was, Kaeden could only guess. “We’ll talk about this later, I’ll be back.”

Salvia only nodded weakly as Kaeden took off in search of her togruta friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As all good things must come to an end, my winter break has ended. As classes start back up, updates may come less and less frequently, so I apologize in advance for the inevitable erraticness of my update schedule.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! The action ramps up next time and Ahsoka will come face to face with the alien horror looming over them all. XD
> 
> Feel free to leave kudos or a comment. And if you know anyone who you think will enjoy this story, please share it! :)
> 
> Until next time!
> 
> SWGoji


	4. Living Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka finally comes face to face with the alien threat on Charon Station, and makes a terrible discovery in the process.

**Medical Bay, Charon Station…**

Kaeden ran out into the medbay on the trail of her wayward togruta friend. What the kriff could have happened between Ahsoka and Salvia to cause that reaction? She could have changed in the fifteen years since Kaeden had last seen Ahsoka, but Ahsoka’s reaction was a complete surprise. She had seen Ahsoka annoyed, remorseful, happy, and even flustered, but never… hateful.

Kaeden found Ahsoka in a corner of the medbay, her head in her hands. The togruta was sobbing and Kaeden moved to sit next to her, slinging an arm around Ahsoka’s shoulders. “Talk to me, Ahsoka. What’s wrong?”

Ahsoka was quiet for a while, maybe a minute or so, before she spoke softly. Her voice no more than a whisper. “I never thought I’d see her again.”

“Salvia? How do you two know each other? What happened between you two?”

“I… she…” Ahsoka started to respond, but cut herself off, her voice hardening. “She betrayed me, long ago. Don’t trust her.” Ahsoka stood abruptly, almost knocking Kaeden over. “I’m going to help set the trap. Just keep  _ Salvia _ away from me.”

With that, Ahsoka stormed out leaving a confused and concerned Kaeden in her wake.

* * *

Hoop, Girard, and a reluctant Palmer had bled air back into Hold 3 by the time Ahsoka made it there, so she was able to move without her spacesuit. Everyone on the station had been given a headset and microphone to keep in touch, even though that meant Ahsoka could hear Barriss Offee’s voice. 

In all the Rebellion operations, on all the space stations, in all the sectors of the galaxy that Ahsoka could have wound up on, Barriss kriffing Offee just had to be present on this one.

How the kriff had she managed to get here anyways? The last time Ahsoka had seen her, she had been led off by four Jedi Temple Guards. She couldn’t have escaped them, unarmed and restrained as she was.

It must have been during the fall of the Jedi. Maybe there was a riot or something where Barriss had managed to escape and lose herself in the galaxy? And wind up here with Ahsoka.

Why did she have to see Barriss again? Ahsoka tried to sort out her feelings as she carried the cargo netting from Hold 3 to the docking bays. She remembered the days before her betrayal, when Ahsoka and Barriss were both young and innocent, well… more or less innocent despite the war that raged across the galaxy and drew the two teenage padawans into its gaping maw. It was not perfect, but they were happy.

She remembered staying up late and sneaking out of her dorm to meet Barriss on the roof of the Temple and watch the stars and neat lanes of speeders zoom above their heads. It had just been so… peaceful. The speeders moving along without a care in the world while the war raged elsewhere. She remembered all their fun, happy moments together away from war, death, and conflict. She had cherished them long ago, memories for when she needed to escape the burdens of being a Commander in the Grand Army of the Republic.

And then Barriss had betrayed her. She had bombed the Temple, killing innocent people, then framed Ahsoka for murdering a witness. Ahsoka was then arrested for the death of clones, had to flee into the undercity of Coruscant, and was kicked out of the Jedi Order after Barriss lured her to a warehouse and ambushed both her and Ventress. And then Barriss was content to let her be sentenced to death by the Senate.

And despite everything Barriss had done to her, Ahsoka still was terrified of the fact that she had just considered killing her.

Ahsoka distanced herself from those painful thoughts by helping with the work. She dragged the netting into the vestibule for Bay 4 and got her first glimpse of the original impact zone for CS-02. The docking bays made a sort of double Y-intersection in the center of the station. Bays 1 and 2 were closer to the command center while Bays 3 and 4 were closer to the medbay. Each bay had its own vestibule that connected to a central spire that made the junction connecting them to the station.

CS-02 had impacted directly into Bay 2, plowed into Bay 1, then collided straight into the station below the command center, but left the vestibules for Bays 3 and 4 intact. It was a miracle that the dropship hadn’t wrecked the station completely, but that wasn’t necessarily true. The echoes of the crash still reverberated here, even weeks after it happened. The station was dying a slow death, as were its inhabitants.

CS-01 had docked in Bay 4 and Ahsoka could see it 30 feet away through a window. The dropship itself was as innocuous as any other dropship of the same model, but she knew that what was inside was enough to terrify anyone, possibly even the Emperor himself. There was a living nightmare inside that ship, and they were preparing to let it out.

Girard and Palmer got to work fixing the door to the docking arm. They worked quickly, quietly, and efficiently. Palmer didn’t speak despite his very vocal disillusionment with their situation in the medbay. But now, they worked as a team, almost as if one mind were directing them both.

Ahsoka stood in the middle of the vestibule, lightsabers dangling from her belt. She had never faced this creature before, but if blasters could kill it, then a lightsaber wouldn’t have any problems either. But there was the whole problem of the acid blood or whatever was coursing through the veins of the aliens. She knew lightsabers cauterized flesh; she hoped it would be the same with these creatures.

Against the left wall stood Henry, who held his blaster down by his side. On the right side of the vestibule by the door stood Rynn and Hunter, each with charge thumpers. The charge thumpers were sort of single-shot, break-action grenade launchers, with mining charges taking the place of grenades. They were large and unwieldy, but powerful.

Hoop, standing behind Girard and Palmer, held a plasma torch. Ahsoka noted that it was pretty much a flamethrower, shooting a jet of contained plasma that would burn through pretty much anything alive or softer than durasteel.

The only two people missing were Kaeden and Sal… no, Barriss. They were still in the medbay, preparing it to take care of any injuries that might occur. Ahsoka was glad that Kaeden would be safe, but she could really care less about what happened to Barriss.

Ahsoka currently held the cargo netting, which was indeed stronger than Ahsoka had anticipated. It was triple-core durasteel wrapped in epoxy-molded carbon fiber and was wound in compressed nylonite strands. But still, there was something pulling on the back of her mind telling her this wouldn’t work. That something bad was going to happen.

“Done,” reported Girard. “Ready to pressurize.”

“Roger,” responded Palmer.

“Do it as slow as you can,” Hoop called in. “Don’t want to make any more noise than we need to.”

“Affirmative.”

There was a slight hum as the docking tube repressurized once more, a hum that Ahsoka heard but she doubted the others would have. Her montrals were apparently more sensitive to higher and lower frequencies than human ears.

After a minute, the light on the door’s control panel glowed green. Girard tried to make it as close to the pressure on their side of the door as possible, but no one was perfect. The doors sighed slightly as they slid apart, the pressure equalizing once more.

“Next step,” Hoop said. “Slow and quiet.”

Hoop, Palmer, and Girard advanced slowly into the docking tube and began repairing the disabled door. The window in the door was fogged with condensation, but it still felt as if something was watching them. As they worked, Henry and Hunter took the cargo netting from Ahsoka and began rigging it across the vestibule door.

Ahsoka couldn’t shake the feeling that the plan was as loose as ever. Open the airlock door remotely, hope the aliens charge out, hope the netting held and trapped them, hook the netting using mining picks, drag the aliens across the vestibule, down the central corridor, through another other vestibule, down the docking tube, and into the airlock of Bay 3, close the doors, then space the bastards.

Yeah. What could possibly go wrong?

“I have a bad feeling about this,” she said to herself, shaking her head.

Rynn caught her gaze and made a ‘quiet-down’ motion with her hand, slashing it across her neck. She mouthed the words. _ “Girard and Palmer can hear you too.” _

Palmer and Girard were now within touching distance of CS-01 and the beasts that lay within. The aliens had been locked in there for weeks with nothing but the rotting corpses of the miners and the dropship crew. Little food. No water. No place to move around or stretch. She hoped they would be tired and weak and put up little resistance as they were dragged away.

“Outer airlock door ready to open,” came Girard’s voice. It was calm, but she could feel the nervousness of everyone around her.

Hoop, Girard, and Palmer all came back through the docking tube to the other side of the netting. Girard and Palmer both grabbed mining picks and stood by to drag the aliens. Hunter had left to open the doors for Bay 3, but checked in via comlink to let everyone know she was ready. Kaeden also came over the comlink to alert everyone that the medbay was up and running should anyone need it.

Ahsoka looked around the room, everyone nodded slowly and took positions. The outer airlock door slid open and Girard made one last check of everyone in the room.

“Go,” Ahsoka said, grabbing her lightsabers and igniting them. They hummed and sang soothingly to her through the Force.

Girard hit the button. CS-01’s outer hatch came open with a squeal, and the shadows poured out.

* * *

The air was stale. Dead. They didn’t much care though. The darkness did not faze them. They had slept, trapped as they were, and they could sleep more. Much, much more. From time to time, vibrations would awaken one and it would investigate the surroundings before descending back to slumber. What one knew, they all knew.

Sleep required less fuel. They lived. That was all that mattered. Life.

The life of the hive.

They waited until the time was right. When new sources of food and life would appear.

Stale air suddenly became fresh. They awoke. Not because of the air, but the scent! The scent of a wielder of the Power of the Cosmos. The enemy!

The scent rippled through their consciousness, driving them into a frenzy with the need to awaken and defend against the threat. And for them, to defend was to attack.

They moved, and as they moved they became aware. They felt the presence. Their hatred bloomed, rising and rising until it boiled over in a furious rage that fueled their limbs with the need to rend and tear. The need to kill.

Had the fires of their rage possessed heat, they would have burned away the entire planet below.

* * *

Ahsoka felt something. Something through the Force. An intense wave of… rage? Yes, rage and hatred coming towards them. Between blinks, the world around her erupted in chaos.

The aliens surged forth from the dropship like a tidal wave mere moments after the door opened. They were so fast, advancing with a fury that caused her to wince. The only sounds they made were the skittering of their biomechanoid limbs and claws on the metal surface of the docking tube and a horrible screeching.

Someone shouted in surprise. Ahsoka didn’t identify who it was, there was no time before the aliens hit the netting. Palmer and Girard both readied their sand picks to drag the net, but something was wrong. It held two of the aliens tightly, but two more thrashed around violently. Limbs raked at the wiring, tails whipped and slashed in every direction, and teeth clacked together, a sound that sent ice through Ahsoka’s veins. She outstretched both hands, eyes squeezed shut, struggling to control them and halt their thrashing, but she was no match for their fury. It was all she could feel.

Girard began to yell. “Careful! They’re-”

He was cut off as the high-tension steel-cored coils snapped with a twang. Wiring flew through the air with a high-pitched whine. Ahsoka staggered back and brought a hand to her face as one strand sliced her cheek.

Palmer screamed as he seemed to almost blur, blaster shots joining the cacophony of noise. The aliens moved fast. So kriffing fast. Blood splashed onto the ground and walls, painting the whitish surfaces a shocking shade of red, and Ahsoka caught a glimpse of blood dripping from the talons of one of the aliens.

Hoop shouted, igniting his plasma torch and sending a blast of heat throughout the room. The alien running at him kicked sideways with ease in an alarming display of agility to avoid the flame. It’s new course brought it right at Ahsoka and she wondered momentarily whether that was intentional or not. It screeched as it charged forward, arms flung wide and tail whipping behind it, claws primed and ready to tear through flesh and bone.

Despite the burning in her cheek and the feel of warm blood dripping into the corner of her mouth and down her jaw, Ahsoka relaxed, putting her faith into her lightsabers. She sidestepped and ducked as the alien reached her, dropping under its attack and spinning to bisect it with her blades.

The alien screeched as the contained bars of pure plasma sliced through it like a hot vibroknife through butter. The pieces continued forward, landing on a row of seats. The fabric began to smoke.

An acrid stench bombarded Ahsoka’s nostrils and made her gag. She heard something spatter onto metal, then a sizzling noise, and smelled something burning. “Acid!” She yelled as another sound reached her montrals, that of a sputtering. Ahsoka looked down at her right hand and found one of her lightsabers had been hit by the acid blood and was shorting out. She immediately shut it off, she’d inspect the damage later.

Another alien came from her left, advancing slower than the other had. It was more cautious, wary of her lightsaber. Its claws waved in the air, slashing at her as a smaller, rod-like toothed appendage slid out of its mouth. But it was all a distraction and Ahsoka ducked as she detected the soft  _ whoosh _ of the alien’s tail cutting through the air where her neck had been.

Strange. She hadn’t sensed the attack, she only survived because her montrals felt the slight disturbance in the air, caused by the slicing tail.

“Fulcrum! Down!” Hoop yelled from behind her and she dropped immediately as Hoop opened up with his plasma torch on the alien. The roar was accompanied by an unbelievable heat as the plasma jet shot towards the alien, and it would have singed her hair if togruta had any.

The alien squealed, high-pitched and in agony.

There was the twang of more netting breaking and Ahsoka saw a shadow burst out through the vestibule and out the exit doors, bowling over Rynn, who fell backwards into the vestibule’s seating, and knocking Henry aside as he shot off a few blaster bolts. She heard Hunter yell into the com. “What the kriff is going on in-”

From beyond the doors came an impact--wet and meaty--then a thud and a scream.

Ahsoka and Hoop retreated towards the exit, away from the flailing, burning alien. It squealed loudly as it burned, thrashing around, tail whipping and slicing the air as it lumbered towards the airlock doors. Towards Girard.

Girard just stood there, blood flowing heavily from the chest wound flying shrapnel from the netting had caused. He was totally expressionless, waving his pick back and forth without seeing anything. Next to him in a corner was what was left of Palmer: bloody, shredded meat.

“Girard!” Hoop yelled. “Eyes left!”

Girard seemed to stir and he lifted his head to stare right at the flaming creature stumbling towards him, then turned his head back to look at the remains of Palmer.

Rynn jumped up from behind a row of seats and fired a mining charge at the alien. The sound was deafening in the confined space. The alien screeched louder as the odd tube-like protrusions on its back were blown off, but it continued its drunken motion towards Girard.

The creature fell upon him, grabbing his head with its two blazing, clawed hands. It parted its jaws and Girard’s head imploded in a bloody spray under the force of the creature’s inner jaw.

Rynn fired, then reloaded and fired again, her lekku swaying from the recoil as she did. The alien’s head blew apart and its carapace shattered under the blows, spreading the burning parts across the walls and floors. Flames danced up the walls and formed intricate patterns above an acidic haze.

Amidst the crackling of the fire, there was a hissing and sizzling.

“We need to get out!” Ahsoka yelled, pulling Hoop to the vestibule doors.

“Where’s the other one?” Hoop yelled back, glancing at the final alien in the vestibule that still struggled to escape the cargo net, which was now failing under the acid of the dead, blazing alien.

“No time! The acid will-”

Henry limped over to them, cradling a bloody hip with one hand and his blaster held in the other. Henry looked back towards the flames. “Rynn! Behind you!”

From the flames, like some kind of demon from some religion, came the final alien. It bore down on Rynn, who vaulted a row of seats in her mad dash to escape the vestibule. Ahsoka felt her disbelief and terror, but overwhelming it for the moment was a sense of determination and anger. That was good, Rynn would need that to survive.

She realized that the twi’lek would never make it in time before the alien caught her. She outstretched a hand, drawing the Force around her to throw the alien back towards the fire, but something was wrong. The alien kept up its charge after the fleeing twi’lek. 

Ahsoka’s eyes widened in horror. No wonder she wasn’t able to keep them contained in the net! She couldn’t feel the alien itself in the Force, just an endless sense of rage and hate coming from that spot. Without a physical presence to manipulate, her power had no effect on the alien!

But that didn’t mean she couldn’t affect Rynn. Drawing the Force back to her hand, Ahsoka seized Rynn and yanked her towards them. Rynn flew away from the alien with a yelp, which paused and snarled at Ahsoka, singling her out from the group.

The acid-splashed window gave way.

Instantly, the vestibule was filled with a raging storm. The winds caused by the pressurized air escaping into the vacuum of space ripped up everything not secured to the floor and blasted it towards the ruptured seal of the window. Broken chairs, dropped weapons, sheared-off panels, and corpses, both human and alien, all of it was jammed against the window and surrounding bulkhead.

The wind howled in an incredible roar. Ahsoka tried to breathe, but couldn’t pull any air into her lungs against the flow of the raging torrent.

There was a scream and Ahsoka looked up to see Rynn lose her handhold on the doorframe. Ahsoka immediately let go of her one of her own handholds, clinging to the doorframe, and reached out a hand to catch Rynn with the Force. The twi’lek somehow flew against the torrent of the wind to grasp Ahsoka’s hand and every muscle in Ahsoka’s arms and shoulders screamed in agony as she did.

The tattered remains of Girard and Palmer’s bodies were pressed hard against the broken window, bits and pieces being sucked out into space like Corellian buckwheat noodles. The surviving alien had snagged its claws in the remains of the cargo netting, but as Ahsoka watched it was torn loose from the weakened wires and slammed into its dead brethren, piled onto the bulkhead with the remains of Girard and Palmer. Things were drawn out of CS-02 as well, flying through the airlock door and whipping around in the hurricane wreaking havoc in the vestibule. Clothing, body parts, tools, and other objects she couldn’t identify joined the massive pile of detritus.

The storm abated as the window was completely clogged with debris of all types. The pressure on Ahsoka’s montrals lessened and she pulled Rynn to the vestibule door where Hoop and Henry hauled her through. Ahsoka looked over her shoulder and her eyes widened as the final alien righted itself and launched itself at her as a high-pitched whistle filled the room.

The entire bulkhead gave way as the pressure on its weakened state exceeded the critical level. The storm returned in full force and the alien launched itself in a leap against the wind, clambering for the togruta.

Strong as an iron vice, she felt the claws of the alien latch around her left ankle, anchoring it against the wind and keeping her from pulling herself through the bulkhead.

Ahsoka twisted and stared into that eyeless, elongated skull. She screamed, a primal roar coming from her voice box as she kicked furiously at the creature’s head, trying to dislodge it from her leg. Blood flowed from the cuts on her leg that the alien’s claws had caused.

“Fulcrum!” She barely heard Henry’s yell, but she looked in his direction. He had anchored himself somehow on the other side of the vestibule door and had leaned over, blaster in hand and pointed at the alien.

Henry opened fire, a lucky shot hitting the alien square in the forehead of its elongated carapace. It shrieked and immediately let go of Ahsoka’s leg, a speck of its blood landing on her calf as it was sucked out of the bulkhead and into the vacuum of space.

Ahsoka screamed as pain shot through her leg. The acid blood ate its way through flesh and muscle and she reflexively let go of her handhold. She was airborne for a moment until Hoop grabbed her wrist.

Ahsoka just stayed there for a moment, before summoning the Force around herself for a final burst of strength. She grabbed Hoop’s arm with her other hand and pulled herself to the door. Getting a hand on the doorframe, she summoned every ounce of energy she could from her screaming muscles to pull herself through.

Once she did, Henry slammed the door close button and the vestibule was finally sealed off. Ahsoka collapsed to the ground, Henry hurrying to her side.

“One of them escaped,” Hoop said, his voice grave.

They all looked over to the door to Bay 2. Stuffed in the doorframe was the mutilated body of Malana Hunter. Her chest was a bloody mess, deep gouges from the alien’s claws that had ripped straight through flesh and bone. Shattered ribs and fractured bones glinted with dripping blood.

“We’ve got to find it,” Henry said.

“Girard and Palmer are gone,” Hoop said, shaking his head.

Ahsoka looked between the others: Hoop, Henry, and Rynn while trying to avoid looking at Hunter’s mangled body. “We’ve got to track it down.”

“First, the medbay,” said Hoop. “We need to warn Kaeden and Salvia and make sure they’re okay.” He paused, looking at Ahsoka’s wounded leg and Henry’s injured hip. “And we should get you two patched up. We need to stay together. Move as fast as possible.”

Henry nodded and held his blaster in front of him in one hand as he clutched his injured hip in his other. Taking point, he led the way back into the body of Charon Station.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Finally, some action! Was it worth the buildup? XD
> 
> As always, feel free to comment on anything you see. Constructive criticism is welcomed and encouraged! Also, if you know someone who you feel would enjoy this story, please share it!
> 
> It'll probably be a bit longer until I get the next chapter of this out. I've kind of neglected my other work-in-progress The Forsaken Knights for two months, so I'll be working on that one for a bit.


	5. The Monkey Wrench

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dropship has been cleared of xenomorphs, but at the cost of three survivors and one xenomorph escaping onto Charon Station. Now Ahsoka and the survivors must avoid the rogue alien and figure out some way out of their predicament.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, SWGoji here... so before I start Chapter 5 I just want to say a few things. Anyone who's been monitoring my Tumblr page will know this, but for those who don't... my friend is okay. They went home to their parents and are now back on campus and on the path to recovery.
> 
> I just want to say thank you so so much to everyone for their kind words and support, especially to my two mutuals on Tumblr. You guys know who you are and have my everlasting thanks. :)
> 
> I've been shaken by this whole thing... I never thought I'd actually have to deal with someone I know contemplating suicide. I'm training to be a pilot. When I'm flying, I practically live by checklists. There's no checklist for a situation like this. What's done is done, and there's no changing that. My friends and I just have to live with what's happened and keep moving forward.
> 
> It's been a tough few weeks, but things are getting better.
> 
> Once again, thank you. All of you.

The hallway was empty, devoid of live. Suddenly, bits of static flashed on the screen. Kaeden tapped the side of her monitor and the disturbance went away. Hoop had jury rigged this system, connecting one of the medical computers to the security cameras on Charon Station. It had allowed Henry to notice that there was a newcomer on the station in the first place. She had seen it, and Henry had gone to investigate. Switching feeds, Kaeden found the others running back to her.

As the survivors slowly worked their way back towards the medbay, Kaeden's mind raced a mile a minute, trying to comprehend what the kriff had just happened.

She had watched the plan unfold, and go wrong. So very, very wrong.

Kaeden had seen the aliens break through the cargo netting like it was flimsi. She had seen Palmer, Girard, and Hunter get brutally slaughtered by the aliens. The eight survivors were now down to just five, excluding Ahsoka. Poor Hunter, at least now she wouldn't have to live anymore knowing that she had found the ruins that had unleashed all of this hell upon them.

When the bulkhead had given way, Kaeden had lost her feed of the vestibule and the central spire. It took a bit of time, but Kaeden had finally found them again.

Next to her, Salvia trembled, looking at the silent image of the survivors advancing through one of the Holds. They had both seen the sleek, dark alien burst out of the vestibule. They had watched it rip Hunter apart and escape into the depths of the station. History was repeating itself. An alien infested Charon Station once more.

Kaeden had tried to talk to Salvia about what had happened with Ahsoka, but the Mirialan girl remained tight-lipped, refusing to say anything. Kaeden had respected her wish, Salvia had saved the lives of countless Rebels during their time on Charon Station, but said that if Salvia ever did want to open up, Kaeden would always be willing and ready.

"Wait! What was that?" Salvia pointed at the image of Hold 3, which the others were making their way through slowly. "There! In the corner!"

Kaeden zoomed in and gasped. The feed may have been grainy, but she'd recognize that silhouette anywhere. Hanging from a chain above the others was the alien!

Kaeden toggled her microphone. "Ahsoka! Get out of there! It's right above you!"

She was answered by nothing but static. Suddenly it hit her, none of the others had their headsets anymore! They must have been ripped off during the decompression of Bay 4.

Kaeden and Salvia looked at each other, faces pale with fear. The alien was right above their friends… and they had no way to warn them.

* * *

It perched elevated above the ground, watching the enemy advance below it. It seethed with anger, the enemy had just destroyed its brethren. Its kind refused to back down from a threat. Any threat to the hive had to be dealt with, and the enemy was the greatest threat among them all.

But life was more important. It had to live for the hive. There was no other choice. Its brethren had allowed it life, and it had to maintain that life.

So for now, it was content to stalk the enemy. That was fine.

But if the opportunity presented itself, or they were face to face, the Alien wouldn't hesitate to neutralize the threat.

* * *

Ahsoka limped along behind Henry, who still cradled his injured side as he led the way through one of the holds. This one appeared to have been used for packing for shipping, with massive crates containing refined thorilide, conveyor belts that currently stood still, and cranes and lifts all over the place with chains dangling and swaying slightly in the slight breeze coming from the air vents.

They moved swiftly, but cautiously. Henry took several steps then pivoted, sweeping the area before them with his blaster then taking another step. Rynn followed behind her, having lost her charge thumper in the chaos. Hoop brought up the rear, his plasma torch pointed above and behind them.

Ahsoka reached out with the Force, despite her nervousness and unease at the revelation in the vestibule. How was it possible for a creature to exist outside of the Force? The Force was generated by life and all life was dependent on the Force. So how could she not feel the creatures themselves in the Force? At least she had felt the rage and hate that emanated from them, it would give her some warning.

She couldn't feel anything around them. Just the nervousness and fear of the survivors around her.

That was strange. She knew there was another alien on the station, but then where was it? She couldn't feel any of that rage or hatred that had poured out of them as they had surged forth from the dropship.

Henry stopped suddenly, kneeling down and putting a hand on the floor in front of them.

"What is it?" Ahsoka asked.

Henry brought his hand up from the floor and Ahsoka could see the substance illuminated by the glow of her lightsaber. It was a translucent substance that glinted in the light as it slowly dripped from finger to finger then back to the ground.

Rynn spoke up behind Ahsoka. "It's from our alien friend. They secrete two things, some kind of hard resin-like material and this saliva-like goo."

Ahsoka immediately brought her head up and scanned above them. Nothing presented itself, just machinery, chains, and some curving pipes. No sign of the alien.

Hoop spoke up from behind them, sweeping the nozzle of the plasma torch back and forth above them. "Let's keep moving. Maybe we'll be able to avoid it and reach the medbay."

* * *

Kaeden watched as they carefully, but quickly advanced through the rest of the hold. Both her and Salvia watched in terror as they watched the alien stalk them from above. Her breath caught Ahsoka put up a first, calling a halt, and looked up in the direction of the alien. The silent visual of Ahsoka was speaking to one of the others, most likely Hoop.

Hoop nodded and they started moving slowly again. The alien continued to creep silently above them. Kaeden split the screen of the terminal, keeping the video feed open in one corner while desperately searching for a method to warn them.

All the holds had emergency lighting and sirens. Usually they were used in event of decompression or a general emergency, and they should still be working.

The problem was that Kaeden was a medical officer, not a computer tech. It would take her much longer to find the program that would allow her to set them off than it would if Hoop was sitting at the terminal.

The footage from the camera in the hold suddenly flared bright and Kaeden quickly resized it to fit the full screen. Hoop had let loose with his plasma torch, but the Alien was too quick.

It leaped across the ceiling as Rynn and Henry made a break towards the door. Ahsoka had a hand outstretched towards the loping alien, her face intense with strain as she no doubt attempted to do something with the Force. Strobe lights flared and emergency lights flashed, the sirens probably blaring. The fire sprinklers in the ceiling were spraying water everywhere in response to Hoop's use of the torch.

The Alien charged for Rynn and Henry, who were struggling to open the blast doors. So close to safety, so far away from making it. A crate or container of some kind stopped it, flying from the corner of the room to shatter against the Alien's carapace.

The Alien halted and turned its head towards Ahsoka, who reached out and grabbed another crate, throwing it at the creature. The beast charged, kicking sideways and up onto a wall to avoid more fire from Hoop's torch.

It bounded past him, throwing Hoop to the side as it charged Ahsoka. Ahsoka dodged its strikes, backflipping away from it, and the escape.

Rynn was dragging Hoop back towards the blast doors, which Henry had managed to open slightly. Ahsoka yelled something at them that Kaeden couldn't make out. The slightly grainy quality of the footage made reading Ahsoka's lips impossible. Rynn seemed to nod and backed away, leaving Ahsoka to face the Alien alone.

It snarled silently on the video and Ahsoka reignited her working lightsaber, holding it in a guard position before her.

The Alien charged, tail lashing wildly at Ahsoka, who backflipped away before launching herself forward off her landing foot. She ran straight at it, but jumped shortly before reaching the Alien. Kaeden almost screamed at the image of Ahsoka launching herself right at the beast that had killed so many of her friends, but Ahsoka avoided the Alien's attempts to snatch her out of the air.

Ahsoka's good foot landed on the smooth carapace of the creature's head and leaped off of that, landing in a roll behind it. Not breaking any motion Ahsoka rolled to her feet and dashed like a madman towards the escape as the Alien chased after her.

She dove through the slowly closing doors, landing on her stomach. Flipping over onto her back, Ahsoka reached out with both hands and brought them together. The blast doors slammed shut, and Ahsoka disappeared from the footage as the Alien pounded futilely against the durasteel.

As Kaeden fell back in her chair, she let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding.

* * *

The medbay was a flurry of movement and chaos. Barriss was attending to Henry's and Rynn's injuries while Kaeden wrapped up Ahsoka's foot. It wasn't hurt too badly, Kaeden had cleaned out and neutralized the acid, then bandaged the lacerations around her ankle. Ahsoka rolled her eyes as Kaeden scolded her again for doing her force-assisted acrobatics on an injured foot. "Seriously Kaeden, I'm fine."

Kaeden sighed and her head dropped a little. "I know. It's just… please try not to hurt yourself again." She sat down next to Ahsoka and leaned her head on the togruta's shoulder.

Ahsoka put an arm around Kaeden's shoulder. "How're you doing?"

Kaeden sniffed a bit, tears welling in her eyes. "I just can't believe they're gone. We'd survived together for so long, but now they're gone. Ahsoka… please don't leave me either."

Ahsoka squeezed Kaeden's shoulder and pulled her a bit closer. "Don't worry Kaeden. We're making it out of here. I promise."

Kaeden smiled and snuggled a bit closer to Ahsoka. Ahsoka closed her eyes, relaxing. She didn't know what to feel right now. Kaeden snuggling into her side felt nice… really nice. Ahsoka had been thrilled at seeing her again, but her heart ached at the thought that Kaeden might end up like Hunter.

Ahsoka was terrified she wouldn't be able to keep her promise to Kaeden. The Force was not her ally here. It seemed to have no effect on the creature, no matter how hard she tried. She couldn't feel it in the Force, just… just a void.

Ahsoka held up her damaged lightsaber, trying to activate it. The blade ignited, but quickly sputtered and died, flickering out of existence. "What's wrong?" Kaeden asked.

Ahsoka sighed. "It seems to have been hit by some acid. The connections are fried. Power cell and crystal are still okay though, thankfully."

"Think you can repair it?" Kaeden laughed as she answered her own question. "Who am I kidding? Of course you can repair it! You fixed a thresher once by stomping on a bent coolant line!"

Ahsoka chuckled herself. She remembered that day. What was it? The second day or so that she was on Raada Kaeden had visited her with a damaged threshing machine? Fixing that had earned Ahsoka her place in the farming world's small community. "I should be able to, but we don't have the parts or the time right now. I'll fix it up when we get out of here."

Hoop chose that moment to walk in, lugging several spacesuits behind him. "Alright people, grab what you need and get suited up."

They had all agreed that they needed to continue the plan, regardless of the decompression of the docking bays. While Kaeden had been treating her foot, Ahsoka had sent a short transmission to Bail by connecting her comlink to the long-range transmitter in her A-Wing. It said: _Intel acquired. Five survivors remaining. Ranking Rebellion Officer: Chief Medical Officer Kaeden Larte. Charon Station untenable, breakup in atmo in less than two days. Send evac ship. Attempting to use mining dropship as lifeboat until evac arrives. Fulcrum._

True, the alien was still out there somewhere on the station, but there were blast doors sealing it from the medbay and docking bays. If they wanted to avoid the creature, they would have to go outside the station, hence the spacesuits.

It didn't take long for them to pack supplies. They had little to work with anyways after being stranded on Charon Station for weeks. After that, it didn't take much longer to suit up for the EVA trek across the surface of Charon Station to the ruined docking bays. Thankfully, Ahsoka had removed her pressure suit before the fight with the creatures, so it was still in pristine condition. Ahsoka doubted that anything they had would fit a set of montrals.

Thankfully, they were a safe distance away from Erebos, the star at the center of the system. Ahsoka had once had to infiltrate an Imperial Intelligence listening post that was so close to its system's star that if she drifted to the lit side, she would only have had a couple minutes before being fried alive. Here they had plenty of time to move.

The airlock door slid closed and depressurized with a whistle, slowly reducing the airlock pressure to vacuum. Once vacuum was reached, the outer door slid open silently and the survivors were staring at the vastness of space. Little pinpricks made by million-years old light of distant stars were scattered here and there, the only contrast to the blackness of the void.

Ahsoka shuddered. The alien onboard Charon Station had the same color. And the same presense in the Force: nothingness. Just a black, empty void.

Hoop led the way out. He was the most experienced of the Charon survivors when it came to EVAs. Not really a surprise seeing how he was Chief Engineer.

The magnetic boots of their pressure suits clung to the outer skin of Charon Station, and the group slowly but steadily made its way towards the docking bays, avoiding the gashes and cracks in the hull.

The station shuddered underneath them and a whole chunk tore itself away, drifting off into space. Hoop toggled his comlink. "Looks like the decaying orbit is taking its toll. Shouldn't be long now until reentry occurs."

Finally, after what felt like hours moving slowly across the tubular installation, they reached their destination: the ruined docking bays.

Carefully, Hoop disengaged his magnetic boots and pulled himself along the remaining hull to the large gash in Bay 4 where the bulkhead had given way and spaced everything. Ahsoka stood ready to grab Hoop with the Force should he lose his grip and start floating off to be lost in space.

Hoop reached the edge and peeked over the edge. Ahsoka had told them that she couldn't sense where the creature was. It wasn't giving off any of the rage or malice that she had sensed during their two encounters with it. And it wasn't giving off any kind of presence in the Force. It should be sealed within the hold, but they couldn't be sure. Maybe it had gone up the ventilation shafts? Maybe it had ripped through the blast doors? Who knew?

Nothing came out of nowhere to rip Hoop's head off and he toggled his com to give the all clear signal. Using a magnetic tether, he carefully descended into the ruined vestibule.

The others followed after him, Ahsoka bringing up the rear to catch them if they lost their grip. After about 15 minutes, all six stood in the vestibule. Carbon-scoring marred the walls. Pits and holes were everywhere, the result of the creature's acid blood spray. Thankfully, Dropship 01 was still attached.

Ahsoka ignited her remaining lightsaber and advanced slowly through the boarding tube. Henry followed a little bit behind her, his blaster drawn with a flashlight held up to help illuminate their path. They came to the open airlock and, after taking a deep breath, stepped through it into another world entirely.

Ahsoka was instantly thankful for the filters in her breathing apparatus. The bodies of miners were still strapped into their seats, cocooned in some glossy, hard material. Ahsoka had seen the same when she first arrived, a human skull had been encased in it. Giant holes had been blown out of the miners' chests, cracked bones visible. They appeared to have been scavenged too. Whole chunks of flesh had been stripped from the bodies.

Henry's light swept over the walls. Dark stains were everywhere, as was that weird glossy material, which Rynn had guessed was some kind of resin-like secretion.

The dropship itself was of a rather typical configuration. Benches on each side of the aisle with a raised area at the front where the pilot sat. Behind the benches was a storage compartment for equipment and a small engineering pod.

Ahsoka spoke into her comlink. "It's all clear. No monsters… just bodies. Do your thing Hoop. Make sure it can fly."

Hoop answered with an affirmative and entered behind them, followed by Rynn, Barriss, and Kaeden. They found an area furthest away from the corpses of the miners and sat down, just staring blankly at them. Neither they nor Ahsoka wanted to touch those bodies, so they just let them be.

Hoop swore over the comlink and Ahsoka immediately dropped into an alert stance, lightsaber in hand, ready to be ignited if an alien they had missed came charging.

Thankfully, Hoop emerged from the engineering pod alive and well, except for the look on his face.

"Hoop? What's wrong?" Kaeden asked warily.

"We aren't going anywhere," Hoop said bitterly. "The power cells are almost drained completely. We won't last long out in this thing. Less than a day."

Ahsoka could sense everyone deflate. Their excitement at possibly getting out of this damn situation was crushed in less than a second. They'd be adrift for at least a few days with no life support, no fuel, and little food or water.

But there was an alternative. "What about my A-Wing?" Ahsoka asked.

"Impossible," was Hoop's response. "They just aren't compatible. These dropships are built cheap. The power cells of a craft like an A-Wing would fry the systems in a second. We had some spares here on station, but Zero-Two's crash destroyed the storage area."

Things were looking hopeless. Where on Coruscant would they be able to find a compatible power cell when there were none around?"

Rynn chose that moment to speak up. "What about in the mines? Don't they have some in storage down there?"

"I think so… on Level 4," Hoop answered. "That's where all the maintenance for that mine is at."

Ahsoka sensed a problem with the idea, though. "But the aliens that caused all this mess…"

"Are down there. They came from there to here on these dropships."

"How many will we be facing down there?"

Kaeden answered. "We have four dropships that can carry twenty miners each. Add in support personnel and staff, we'd be looking at well over a hundred aliens if they each came from a person."

Silence filled the dropship. The six of them… versus potentially one hundred plus aliens. The odds of them surviving were astronomical.

"It's the only chance we have," Hoop said. "Plus, Hunter said they discovered the source of the aliens on Level 9, the lowest level. We'll need to go only to Level 4 to reach the power cells. Hopefully, we'll be able to avoid the aliens and get back without firing a shot."

Ahsoka looked around at the others and saw them all nod in agreement. Hoop was right. It was the only shot these people had at surviving. The only shot Kaeden had at surviving.

Ahsoka nodded as well. She _would _keep her promise. She would save Kaeden… or die trying.

* * *

Being the only pilot among them, Ahsoka eased the dropship out of Bay 4. They had repressurized it, so they didn't need their pressure suits anymore. Might have been a bad idea though, pretty much all of them had puked as soon as the air was no longer being filtered. Now there was yet another smell that added to the stench that bombarded their nostrils.

They had enough power to make it to the surface and back, but they wouldn't be coming back to Charon Station. None of them wanted to. Once they had replaced the power cell, they'd just blast off into space to await the evac ship.

It took a few hours for them to reach the ground. A few hours too many to be stuck in the same dropship as multiple mutilated corpses.

Kaeden spent most of the time up in the small, cramped cockpit chatting with Ahsoka. They talked about what had happened to them since they last saw each other fifteen years ago.

Hoop and Rynn had sat down behind the pilot seat and were snoring softly. Ahsoka had to say she was surprised. How in the name of Sith Hell could they be able to sleep at a time like this? Then again, they must not have had much sleep on Charon Station and the two were taking advantage of the brief relapse to get some much needed rest.

Barriss was sitting down, and from what Ahsoka could sense, she was meditating. Ahsoka didn't really care much for what Barriss did as long as Barriss did two things: leave her alone and kriff off. After what Barriss had pulled, Ahsoka would never trust her again, even if she was remorseful and wanted to be friends again.

Henry sat on the raised edge facing towards the rear of the dropship, his blaster sitting in his lap. He was alert, watching for any alien threat. But Ahsoka could sense that he was thinking about what she had said earlier about the Jedi. It was interesting. He was genuinely interested in the Jedi Order at a time when even mentioning the name would bring the Empire coming.

About halfway through the flight, Henry did voice his question. "Hey Fulcrum? What happened to the Jedi? I know the Empire said they tried to take over the Republic, but from what I've read the Jedi would never do that. They think outwards, rarely about themselves."

Ahsoka sighed. "Actually, I don't know what happened to them. I left the Order before the Empire arose, but I know they were manipulated into their doom. The Jedi were forced into a no-win situation: the Clone Wars. The Emperor managed to turn the entire galaxy against them. How he did it? I don't know. All I know is that I left because the Jedi put their political position ahead of protecting one of their own. Most likely, that's why fell. They were too closely involved with the Senate, which was under the control of a Dark Lord of the Sith."

Henry seemed content with this answer and thankfully didn't inquire further. Despite what the Jedi did to her, Ahsoka still missed Master Plo and Master Obi-Wan. Her master, Anakin, she feared he had befallen a fate worse than death. Her encounter with the one called Vader with the Phoenix Cell had caused that.

It got a bit bouncy as the dropship entered Tartarus' atmosphere. The small amount of shielding the dropship had was protecting them from the heat. As long as it held for a few more seconds, they would be in the clear.

Finally, the red-orange flare of reentry disappeared to be replaced with a veritable wasteland. The surface of Tartarus was red stone with no soil and billowing dust clouds in the wind. The sky shone a bright orange color, like they were underneath one of those warning signs commonly seen at construction areas.

There was a weak signal still coming from the location of the mine. Ahsoka locked onto it and the dropship's primitive electronics showed an optimal path for her to fly through.

Ahsoka saw it from quite a distance as they flew through a dust storm and emerged through the other side. It was the only building for miles around, a massive hangar-like building with multiple landing pads surrounding it.

Only one was feasible for landing. The wrecks of the other dropships had long since stopped burning, but the charred, twisted remains made landing impossible. Another landing pad had been retracted into the hangar leaving only one open to land in.

Ahsoka fought the winds briefly before they died down. Engaging the repulsorlifts, she maneuvered across the complex. Nothing was moving, just the blowing sands.

A smile came to her face as she remembered Anakin's mortal enemy: _sand_. They had been on Tatooine trying to return Jabba's son to him when she had brought up the sand and his response still made her laugh. She kind of had to agree with him though. Sand was rough, coarse, irritating, and did get everywhere.

The dropship landed softly and Ahsoka quickly shut down all systems and Hoop manually opened the airlock. The air was breathable, thankfully. It had a weird metallic smell to it though.

They didn't have many weapons. Ahsoka had one lightsaber, Henry had his blaster, Rynn had a charge thumper with a limited number of mining charges left, and Hoop had the small plasma torch. Kaeden didn't have a weapon, but there was a weapon locker in the security room. Thankfully, the security room was on the surface inside the mining hangar. She should be able to find some kind of weapon there.

They slowly advanced towards the entrance to the hangar, half expecting a massive horde of aliens to swarm out at them. But nothing came. The only sound was the whistle the wind made through the mountains and canyons of Tartarus.

Henry reached the door. This was a small personnel door that stood next to the larger garage-type door that allowed the dropships to be moved in and out of the hangar via a track the landing pads sat on.

Keeping his blaster in front of him, Henry slowly opened the door and raised his light. Kicking it in all the way, they dashed inside.

"Stay where you are!" came a modulated voice from the darkness. She recognized that modulation and it chilled her blood.

"Drop your weapons!" came another.

Sure enough, as their eyes adjusted to the indoor lighting, Ahsoka recognized the white plastoid that instilled fear in the hearts of rebels: Imperial stormtroopers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now Imperial Stormtroopers are here as well?! What could they want?
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! As always, feel free to comment on anything you see or think. If you have an idea for something you want to see, please let me know! Who knows? I might include it. Constructive criticism is welcomed and encouraged! And if you know anyone who may enjoy this story, please share it with them!
> 
> Again, not sure when the next chapter will be up. I'll try to update soon, but I can't say for certain with everything that's been happening as of late.


	6. The Enemy of my Enemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A standoff ensues between the Rebel survivors of Charon Station and a squad of stormtroopers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before I begin this chapter, I just want to say I hope everyone out there is doing alright in the middle of this pandemic. Stay safe!
> 
> And for those of you who are sick or feeling under the weather, I hope you get better soon! :)

As their eyes adjusted to the darker interior of the hangar's indoor lighting, Ahsoka was able to take full stock of the situation.

There were four stormtroopers in cover around an Imperial Lambda-class transport. It appeared to have been damaged, panels were missing and wiring was exposed. It appeared the Imperials had been attempting to repair it.

What was most curious was the state the stormtroopers were in. Their armor was not glistening white like the other encounters Ahsoka had had with them. Here, their armor was streaked with dust and sandblasted, most likely from the winds outside.

"I said drop your weapons!" one of them yelled. Reaching out with the Force, Ahsoka could sense the speaker's unease and nervousness. Odd. Most stormtroopers she encountered never had frayed nerves like this one did. She did the same to the other three. They were holding together better. Most likely they were more experienced than the other.

Ahsoka did not sense any malice or aggression from them, just surprise at their appearance. She stepped in front of the others putting a hand down behind her. "It's alright guys, lower your weapons."

They all were reluctant, that Ahsoka could sense, but they all did. Henry holstered his blaster, Hoop let go of the nozzle of the plasma torch, and Rynn leaned her charge thumper against a wall.

One stormtrooper stepped forward, E-11 blaster held across his chest. This was the stormtroopers' commanding officer; he had an orange pauldron on one shoulder that appeared to have been slashed by something. Now that Ahsoka looked closer, his armor was covered in small slashes and grooves. There was something strange about him in the Force though, like an old presence she hadn't felt in a while. In fact it was similar to someone she knew from the Clone Wars. Someone now with them in the Rebellion.

Her eyes almost snapped wide in realization, but she kept the same face. She readied her senses, being prepared for the slightest threat this stormtrooper might pose to her.

He stopped before them. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"We could ask you the same," Ahsoka responded, crossing her arms over her chest.

The stormtrooper commander cocked his head, most likely sizing Ahsoka and the Charon survivors up threat level wise. "From the looks of that thing hanging from your belt, I'd say someone I'd usually shoot first and ask questions about later. That lightsaber there, means you were once a Jedi when the Order still lived. And that dropship you landed in appears vaguely similar to the twisted wrecks out on the other pads, so you must've come from that kriffed up space station in orbit. But I doubt a Jedi would be freely showing her lightsaber around if they were on a civilian station, so I assume your group is with the Rebellion."

"That a problem?" Ahsoka questioned, one hand opening subtly, ready to grab her functioning lightsaber with the Force if the Imperial tried anything.

"Normally yes," the stormtrooper responded, "but this isn't a normal situation. Now why don't you tell me what you are doing down here on this dustball."

Kaeden answered him before Ahsoka could. "We had a medical station on Charon Station, the mining depot up in orbit. Weeks, months, however long ago it was, Charon Station was stricken by a dropship colliding into it at max speed. What's worse was that some new alien species was unleashed up there. We're all that's left. Our only hope was to use that dropship out there as a lifeboat until help arrived."

Hoop joined in. "Problem was the power cells were so depleted we wouldn't last long enough for a rescue ship. We're hoping there are some down here in the mines we can use."

The stormtrooper's head sank a bit. "_Haarchak_, the infestation got up there too?" He holstered his blaster. "Close the door, don't want any more kriffing dust or sand to get in here." He called to the nervous stormtrooper. "Three-Seven, bring their ship inside. Don't want sand clogging the thrusters." The stormtrooper hesitated for a moment before he complied, starting the mechanical sequence that brought the landing pad into the hangar.

The commander gestured for them to follow him. "RC-709, Imperial Deep Space Reconnaissance. My squad was in the area investigating reports of a smuggler base in this sector when we received a signal from Charon Station. When we got here it was falling apart, but surface scans of Tartarus showed strange activity down here. We decided to investigate here first, thinking the smugglers had hit the station and fled to a base planetside. Encountered a sandstorm on approach and made a crash landing. It's a miracle our shuttle's in the condition it's in."

RC-709 gestured to one of the other experienced stormtroopers, who was leaning against a stack of mining crates. "That's RT-2756. The others are RT-8537 and our pilot RP-462."

Ahsoka frowned. "Sorry, but there is no way I'm calling you by your numbers," she had never called her clone troopers by their numbers, but instead by the names they had given themselves. "What're your names?"

RT-2756 chuckled. "I do get tired of yelling out numbers in the heat of battle sometimes, old man." He turned to Ahsoka and the other Charon survivors and removed his helmet. "Brennan Kowalski," Kowalski was in his mid-twenties, light-skinned with short brown hair. A few scars, most likely given to him from the receiving end of a vibroknife, crossed his face. "I know the nervous wreck over there won't want to say anything, so I'll do it for him. That's TJ Easley, tech specialist, and then there's Milnor Wilcox, the surviving transport pilot."

Easely swore and threw a rock at Kowalski, which the older trooper caught and tossed to his side. Wilcox nodded at the new arrivals before returning to the shuttle. Kowalski then turned to look at RC-709. "How 'bout you, old man? Want me to do it for you as well?"

"Fine," RC-709 sighed. He reached up and removed his helmet. "Name's Crespi."

Ahsoka nodded as he did, recognizing the familiarness of Crespi's weathered face. She had been right. He was an old clone trooper. "You're a clone?" she asked, looking for confirmation.

"I am," he responded. "You going to strike me down? Get revenge for your fallen brethren?"

"No," Ahsoka said tersely. "I'm not. What unit were you in?"

"Not yours, Tano." Crespi said. He laughed at the shock on Ahsoka's face as he correctly identified who she was. "Don't look too shocked, it wasn't that hard to figure out. There weren't that many togruta Jedi, even fewer with orange skin. You also appear to be in your mid thirties. That would make you a teenager during the Clone Wars. And pretty much every clone knew about the 501st Legion and its legendary Jedi leaders Skywalker and Tano. Simple enough to extrapolate that the togrutan Jedi standing before me is Commander Tano all grown up. Enough on that though. We have larger concerns."

Kowalski spoke up. "The old guy mentioned that we crashed on landing here. Wilcox somehow made it to the landing pad. We were surprised when no one came out to greet us after the crash and swept the area we're in now. We found a few shreds of some material like dried snakeskin and the bloodstains and small arms fire you see on the walls around you.

"We set up camp under the shelter of this hangar, unable to get a signal off because of the sandstorm. They came during the night up through the elevator shaft, surprising us while most were asleep. I don't know what they were: black, insectoid creatures that scuttled across the walls and ceiling like spiders. They snatched half a dozen men, and killed a couple others." He gestured to a corner where a few lumps were present under a tarp. "Poor Olmstead was skewered through the back and Reisel died when he shot one off of himself. The blood… it poured out all over him and melted straight through his armor," Kowalski was silent for a moment. "I still hear his screams when I close my eyes."

Crespi took back over for Kowalski, something the younger stormtrooper was probably grateful for. "There were ten of us left after the raid. Some wanted to evacuate as soon as possible, but Massey refused to leave them behind. It came to a vote: 6-4 in favor of staying and rescuing our missing comrades. Massey led six down into the mine a week ago, going level by level via the stairs. Easely stayed up here to fix the shuttle with Wilcox, and Kowalski and I remained to cover him. We lost contact with Massey's group a few days back. No clue what's happened to him."

Easely walked over from the shuttle, pausing and coming to attention before Crespi. "Shuttle should be flyable and space-worthy in an hour or two, sir."

Crespi nodded. "I'm not leaving without knowing the fate of my men. They might be dead, alive, incapacitated, I don't know, but I won't leave without confirmation of their fate."

Kowalski grunted. "Are you sure about that, boss? There's only four of us against who knows how many of them."

"Can that talk Bren," Crespi snapped, whirling to look the stormtrooper in the eyes. "We are Imperial Stormtroopers. We do NOT abandon our own!"

"We can accompany you to Level 4, but no further," Hoop said. "That's where the power cells are supposed to be."

"Oh that's just great," Kowalski jabbed a finger at Hoop. "I knew Rebels were cowardly. You talk all high and mighty about saving people, but you'd leave us to die here trying to save our comrades?"

"And what chance do you think we have against those creatures?"

"Fine. Take what you need and leave. I see how it is."

"But Hoop," Kaeden said, "their friends could be in danger."

"Nobody in the Empire has friends," Henry spoke up, venom creeping into his voice. "They train their cadets to use any means necessary to advance. They train you to see everyone around you as a tool, nothing more."

"Rebel propaganda," Kowalski spat.

"It got my sister killed," Henry shot back. "Her CO threw her and all her stormtroopers into a foolish assault that had no tactical or strategic value whatsoever. Simply because the result of that assault was that the CO got a promotion."

"Like I said, Rebel propaganda," Kowalski said again, eyes steely and cold. "If you weren't at that battle, you can't claim to know what happened."

Henry just glared daggers at Kowalski, who did the same in return. While they squabbled, Hoop turned to Kaeden, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Doctor… Kaeden, look at us. One rebel soldier, two medical staff, an engineer, a science officer, and a former Jedi. Only one of us has even a remote chance of going against all those creatures and coming out alive."

"But we can't just leave them here…"

Crespi cut in, nodding at Hoop. "He's right, young one. You can't save everyone. That's the burden of command. You do what you must to save your people, just as I do the same for me and mine. I'll take any and all support you can offer, but I won't keep you here against your will."

Ahsoka's mind flashed back to Ryloth: her first command and her first failure. She had lost her entire squadron that day because she had neglected their safety. Anakin had told her something similar to what Crespi had told Kaeden. It was impossible to save everyone, especially in the situation they were in.

Looking at the others, Kowalski and Henry were still at each other's throats, Hoop was talking to Kaeden, Barriss and Rynn were sitting quietly in the corner, Barriss appeared to be meditating while Rynn was fiddling with her charge thumper. Easely and Wilcox were putting some finishing touches on the Imperial shuttle. She noticed Wilcox was the quiet type; he hadn't said a word since they had landed here.

Crespi walked over to her. "I take it you're in command of this group?"

"I guess so," Ahsoka said. "I've only known them for a… a day maybe, probably less, but they look to me for guidance and orders."

Crespi chuckled. "You're the most experienced of them all. They see that and accept it. I met your captain once. CT-7567, Captain Rex? I remember something he told all of us: 'Experience outranks everything.'"

"It does," Ahsoka agreed, "but I don't know if any amount of experience can prepare us for what's down in that mine."

"On that we are in agreement, Tano," Crespi nodded. "Easely and Wilcox told me the shuttle should be repaired in about a standard hour. Get some rest while you can, once we head down into that mine, I doubt any of us will be able to get any form of respite."

Crespi got up to leave and had gotten a few steps away when Ahsoka spoke. "Wait, Crespi… there's something I need to know. Did you… you know?"

Crespi stopped and sighed, looking up at the ceiling, then down at the ground in front of his feet. Ahsoka could feel his emotions roiling inside him: anger, disgust, and… despair? "I did my duty." With that, he walked off.

* * *

Kaeden looked up as Crespi crouched down next to her. "You armed?" he asked.

Kaeden shook her head. "No. Neither myself or Salvia has a weapon. We weren't really well-equipped up there at Charon Station."

"Why not?" Crespi asked.

"Well, Charon Station was a covert medical station hidden by a mining operation. It wouldn't really be covert if there was a massive arsenal there, would it?"

Crespi chuckled lightly. "No, I guess not."

"Plus most of the weaponry we had was lost when the majority of our crew died in the command center." Kaeden proceeded to tell Crespi about what had happened down up on Charon Station, from the discovery in the mines by Hunter to the desperate battle in the command center, then Ahsoka's arrival and the fights that had happened since she joined them. Through it all, Crespi just listened and nodded.

When Kaeden finished, Crespi sighed sadly. "Listen Doctor, I fought through the Clone Wars. My life was one tidal wave of blaster bolts, clone blood, and droid parts after another, interspersed with moments of soul-crushing boredom while we waited for the next wave of death and destruction. And at the end of it all… I lost my best friend. Since then, I've done nothing but fight for the Empire. I was created to fight. My life holds no other purpose. My life has been nothing but war and violence. But never was I in a situation like the one you were in for the past several weeks. You're stronger than you think to have made it this far and still have hope of survival and life beyond this struggle. Always remember, as long as you can keep moving forward, you can make it. Trust your instincts and keep moving."

He stood and offered Kaeden a hand, helping her up. "Now, let's get you and your friend a gun."

Kaeden called over to Salvia, who stirred and looked over at them. Kaeden waved her over and the three stepped into the banged-up shuttle. Kaeden didn't miss, however, the way Ahsoka's face deepened into a frown on hearing Salvia's name.

Inside the shuttle, Crespi was crouched next to a weapons locker. He opened the lid to reveal blasters of every size. Small hold-out blasters, fleet-issue DH-17 blaster pistols, E-11 stormtrooper rifles, a long blaster rifle probably used for sniping, and others Kaeden didn't know the name of.

Crespi picked out two DH-17s, checking the gas chambers and power packs. "Either of you used one of these?"

Both Kaeden and Salvia shook their heads, although Kaeden said: "Not that one before, no, but I have fired a blaster a few times."

Crespi nodded. "You won't need any long-range stuff down in that mine. These have an effective range of 30 meters, which should be more than enough down there. Gas cartridge carries about 500 rounds, but the power pack is good for only around 100 rounds. Take these," he handed them each a spare gas cartridge and a few extra power packs. Crespi showed them how to reload each and had them each try it a few times. "Other than that, just point and shoot."

Salvia looked at Crespi with a wary look on her face. "Why are you doing this? Couldn't you be killed for giving Rebels weaponry?"

Crespi laughed. "As I told your Jedi leader, this isn't a normal situation. I doubt I'm going to survive this anyways. We all stand a slightly better chance if everyone is armed."

* * *

Just over an hour later, Easely and Wilcox reported in to say that the shuttle had been repaired to a space-worthy condition and Crespi gave the order to prepare to head down into the mines.

Crespi walked up to Ahsoka, his voice now modulated by the helmet that was now back on his head. "We'll take the elevator down to the 4th Floor and look for your power cells. If they aren't there, we'll go level by level until we find them or my men. Once your crew finds them, you can either help us or leave, you do what's best for your own. We're leaving Wilcox up here in case we need to make a quick escape."

"Thank you, Crespi."

Kowalski and Easely got into position on both sides of the elevator doors. Crespi nodded, and they pulled the doors open with a screech of metal across accumulated grit. The flashlights slung onto the barrels of their E-11s flicked on to illuminate the inside of the metal cage that made up the elevator.

Nothing came out at them, but the light illuminated a grisly sight.

A partially decomposed body lay in the corner, some of the flesh stripped from its bones, it's mouth frozen open in a scream. Ahsoka couldn't distinguish whether it was male or female, but it was human. The slightly damp, humid air created by the climate control systems had created the perfect environment for whatever bacteria or other microorganisms to do their work. The remaining skin on the body was bloated in some areas and sagged in others. The air smelled with a tang of decay.

Easely slipped into the cage and examined the elevator systems. "Inoperative, give me a moment." Taking a power pack from his belt he plugged in a couple wires. A few moments later, the elevator lights flickered to life. "Systems operative, ready to descend."

"Wait…" Rynn said. "You want us to go down in that?"

"You want to go down the stairs?" Hoop teased. There were over 7,000 individual stairs in each of the two emergency stairwells next to the elevators. Five thousand feet down into the ground. No one wanted to go down all of those. No one, apparently, except for Crespi's missing stormtroopers.

Rynn's face wrinkled around her nose. "Can we at least move the body out of there?"

Crespi looked to Ahsoka, who nodded. Stretching out a hand, she lifted the body into the air and out of the elevator cage.

It didn't stay in one piece.

* * *

Thousands of feet below the intruders, they moved about frenetically. Much to do. The hive had to be maintained. It was a frenzy of movement and activity. Repairs, movement of the eggs to safety, stalking the interlopers down here with them.

The interlopers had ran when they attacked. With the death of some, fear surrounded all but one. That one was interesting. That one was not afraid of them like most would be. That one _wanted_ them. That one wanted their offspring. That one was dangerous.

But not nearly as dangerous as the being above them. The being coming for them.

They could feel it. The Power of the Cosmos was being manipulated up on the surface. Enslaved. Forced to do the wielder's bidding.

They smelled the scent, the scent of the wielder. They marked her, prepared for her. As long as she lived, the hive was in danger.

The hive was life. The hive would survive. The interlopers would die. They would make it so.

* * *

Ahsoka was the last to pile into the now-empty, but still smelly, elevator. She was the best prepared for anything they might face. Crespi stood next to her, E-11 blaster at the ready. Easely and Kowalski had taken up firing positions at the corners.

"Easely. Bay 4 please."

The stormtrooper complied without complaint. She could feel Kowalski's anger at them simmering. She didn't blame him. If their situations were flipped, she would probably be the same.

It also didn't help that they were rebels and a Jedi.

"Starting descent." Easely said. The doors closed with a shudder and the elevator started to move down towards the nightmare that awaited them.

Ahsoka tried to center herself in the Force to prepare herself for what they would encounter, despite the nagging feeling that there was nothing anyone could do to prepare for this situation. She frowned. Below them, she could feel a massive spike of rage, hate, and aggression. She didn't have the time to dwell on that though.

Her stomach flew up into her throat, the floor giving out beneath them, wind suddenly whistling past her montrals. Someone screamed. Kaeden? Rynn?

Ahsoka thought she heard Crespi yell "Brace!" as the elevator began to shriek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that's just wonderful. I wonder what could have happened. I hope you all enjoyed the stormtroopers I created for this story. How many of them will make it out alive?
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. As always, feel free to comment on anything you saw or thought while reading this. Even better if you have some constructive criticism! I love hearing from my readers on what I could improve on. And if you know someone who might enjoy this story, please pass it on and share it with them! :)


	7. The Abyss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a freak accident, with only one option left available, Ahsoka, the survivors of Charon Station, and the remnants of an Imperial Reconnaissance squad venture into the mine tunnels and into the arms of the aliens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, I really wanted to get this out for either May 4th or May 5th, but college final exams made that all but impossible. Anyways, I hope you all had a great May the 4th and Revenge of the Fifth! Now that the Spring Semester is over, I'll hopefully be able to update faster.
> 
> Now with that said, let's get on with the story. Enjoy!

Kaeden coughed dust out of her throat as she regained consciousness. What…? What had just happened?

The last thing she remembered was stepping into the elevator and them beginning to descend into the mine. Then… the floor gave out underneath them and they started falling. She remembered the sparks flying, the violent vibrations of the cage making everything a blur. Kaeden remembered screaming… and then nothing.

She tried to speak, to call out and see if there was anyone else around her. Her attempt only resulted in another round of intense coughing as she tried to expel the dust from her respiratory system.

“Here,” someone said, grabbing her shoulder and pulling Kaeden into a sitting position. “Drink this.” Whoever this was placed a canteen to her lips, pouring some water into her mouth.

Kaeden spat it out, taking a lot of the dust and sand with it, coughing violently. Her voice was rough, but she was finally able to speak. “Who...?”

Her eyes finally adjusted to the darkness and she gazed into the faceplate of a stormtrooper’s helmet. It wasn’t Crespi though, or Kowalski or Easely. “Easy, relax.” The modulated voice sounded different though, a little higher in pitch. Kaeden looked down and saw the modified chestplate. This stormtrooper was female!

They had found Crespi’s squad!

Kaeden blinked the last of the grit from her eyes and observed their surroundings. She was outside the ruined turbolift, most likely having been dragged out by the stormtrooper above her.

The lift itself was a mess of mangled metal from the cage. Some struts were still red-hot, melted from the intense friction that descent must have caused. Smoke rose as hydraulics and electronics hissed and sparked.

Kaeden wiped at her nose. A dark liquid was on her hand, indicating a bloodied nose. 

Taking a deep breath, she winced in pain. Definitely a couple fractured ribs. Nothing she could do about those now though.

She counted herself lucky though. Somehow with that descent, her injuries were only relatively minor. Ahsoka escaped with a few lacerations and some bruising on her montrals. Hoop had a concussion and a fractured rib as well. Rynn had vomit all over her jumpsuit. What was really surprising was that the rest of the group’s injuries were also relatively minor, with one exception.

* * *

Easely had tried to stand, only to cry out in pain. “Ankle! Ankle!” he shouted, collapsing back to the ground. Kaeden examined it, probing around his foot and lower leg. She nodded. “Broken ankle, for sure.”

“No kriffing shit!” Easely yelled at her.

Crespi called over from where he was talking to another stormtrooper, probably the leader of the rest of his squad: Massey, that’s what Kaeden thought Crespi said his name was. “Relax Easely. Let the Doctor do her work.”

“I can splint it,” Kaeden said, pulling out her medkit. “You’ll be able to walk.”

“I can walk!” Easely yelled, a bit desperately this time. He tried to push himself up, grunting against the pain. Kaeden pushed him back down though. “Let me splint it, then you can get up.”

Retrieving a SAM splint from her medkit, Kaeden began work on bandaging Easely’s broken ankle. She helped him up and with help he could hobble along. Salvia, who was about the same height as him, just a bit shorter, offered to help Easely move until they got out of the mine. “I’m no good with a blaster anyways,” she said.

Kaeden walked over to Crespi to inform him about Easely’s condition. He was talking with his subordinate Massey, Ahsoka, who had become the Rebels’ nominal leader, and Hoop, who had the most knowledge of the mine. 

“We’re stuck on the lowest level of the mine,” Massey explained. “They have an enclave, or a nest, down here somewhere. We didn’t encounter any resistance until we made it to this level, and entered a cavern of some sort. Then they came out of nowhere. Choi was snatched away into the darkness and Jenkins was impaled through the back. We fell back here to the elevator lobby, losing Smyth in the process. They didn’t come after us in the lobby though, only sending a scout or two at a time. I have no clue why.”

Crespi nodded. “Strange… very strange. We can’t go up the stairs though, they’ll catch us long before we make it to the surface. The combat effectiveness of a whole group would be diminished in a stairwell. Are there any other exits?”

Hoop spoke up. “Yes, there’s another turbolift on the other side of the mine.”

“We just have to traverse the tunnels and try to avoid the creatures?” Massey asked. Hoop nodded and Massey swore under his breath. “Wonderful. Just karking wonderful.”

Hoop nodded at the exit tunnel for the elevator lobby. “It’s about several hundred meters, but there are a few turns and branches. Short tunnels where they were looking for thorilide crystals. Hunter would have known more, she was one of Kelland’s mining engineers.”

“Well where is she then?” Massey demanded.

“Dead,” Hoop answered bluntly. “Killed by one of those things.”

Crespi spoke up. “We know what we have to do. We stick together as a group, we might be able to make it. Lock and load Massey, we move in five.” As Massey walked over to his gear, Crespi turned to Ahsoka. “The… uh, Jedi I fought with long ago, she… she could sense where the battle droids and Separatists had set up ambushes. Any chance you can do that here?”

Ahsoka was hesitant in her answer for some reason. “I… I don’t know.”

“Why not? What’s wrong?” Crespi asked, genuine concern in his voice.

“These creatures… it’s like they don’t exist in the Force at all. I can’t feel them, just an endless stream of hatred, rage, and fury. My conventional Force powers don’t do anything to them either.”

Crespi grunted. “Well this just got a whole lot better.” Crespi noticed Kaeden waiting patiently and turned to her. “Something I can do for you, Doctor?”

“Please Crespi, just Kaeden is fine. I splinted Easely’s ankle; he should be able to walk with help. Salvia offered to help him walk until we get out of here.”

Crespi nodded. “Thank you… Doctor. Get your friends ready to move.” He turned to the three stormtroopers they found down here. “Massey, Pulaski, Teraan! Form up!”

All three fell into formation and Crespi motioned for Ahsoka to come with him. He addressed his squad. “This is Commander Tano, a former Jedi of the Old Republic and current officer in the Rebellion. Me and her have come to an agreement. We are all going to work together to escape this mine with our lives and then go our separate ways. I want you to follow any order you receive from Commander Tano as if I was the one giving it. Any questions?”

One of the stormtroopers spoke up, the male one who was not Massey. “Sir, requesting clarification if the orders are contrary to Imperial interests.”

Ahsoka stepped forward, folding her hands behind her back. “All I want is to escape this place with the lives of my friends. You can be assured that I won’t betray you or leave you behind.”

“Are we your ‘friends’?” The stormtrooper retorted. “How do we know you won’t sacrifice us to make sure your crew escapes?”

Crespi pointed at him. “Can that shit right now Pulaski! We’ve got a tough fight ahead of us. Division in the group will only make it harder.”

“Yes sir. Sorry sir.”

They broke formation to finish gathering their gear. Kaeden pulled Ahsoka aside. “You doing okay?”

“As good as I can be all things considered,” Ahsoka sighed. “How about you?”

“I don’t know,” Kaeden said, hugging herself with her arms. “We’re on the lowest level. Where those things were found. Will we all get out alive? Can we?”

Ahsoka sighed, looking up at the rock ceiling. “I don’t know, Kaeden. They know we’re here and they’re angry. I can feel rage and hatred ahead of us.” She shook her head. “It’ll be a tough fight.”

Kaeden’s head sagged slightly. Of all the ways she had once thought she would die, becoming alien chow thousands of feet below a desolate planet in the ass-end of nowhere. But she wasn’t dead yet. Kaeden raised her head, pushing the doubt deep down. “Guess we just have to keep moving, huh?”

There was a laugh from behind them and Kaeden turned to see the female stormtrooper walking towards them. “Crespi must’ve given you his motivational speech. I swear that guy repeats that thing like a mantra or something.” She paused before them, removing her helmet. The stormtrooper had light skin, brown hair, and deep chocolate eyes that sparkled with mischief. “Blake Teraan,” she introduced herself, her non-modulated voice speaking with a Core World accent.

“Alderaanian?” Kaeden guessed.

Teraan looked at her and raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Impressive. How’d you guess?”

“There was an Alderaanian engineer on Charon Station… he didn’t make it out.” Kaeden looked down.

“My condolences,” Teraan said. She turned to Ahsoka. “Apologies for Pulaski’s behavior. He’s just extremely patriotic about the Empire. He was a slave who was freed by an Imperial operation, he joined up to repay the act. The stress of this whole situation is getting to him as well,” she shuddered. “I think it’s getting to all of us.”

Ahsoka shrugged. “I don’t blame him. We’re rebels and you’re imperials. I’d be disappointed if you blindly trusted us.” She looked at the other stormtroopers who were finishing their final checks. “What can you tell me about the others?”

Teraan shrugged. “Massey used to be a mercenary. I don’t know much other than that. Easely’s a tech recruited out of some academy, keeps to himself most of the time. I think he just hates socializing. I’m not surprised though that Kowalski and your Rebel soldier are going at it. His parents were killed in a rebel attack several years ago. His older sister almost died as well. He signed up to get revenge, sends all his income to support his sister’s business.”

“That’s terrible,” Kaeden said.

Teraan shrugged. “Beings die in war. I joined up because I wanted to get away from courtly life on Alderaan. There was talk of an arranged marriage and I didn’t stick around to see if it was true.” She laughed. “I was a bit of a tomboy; drove my parents to extreme lengths of frustration.”

Ahsoka smiled, remembering the times she’d annoy Anakin and Obi-Wan on purpose. “What can you tell me about Crespi?”

“Well he’s an old clone from the days of the Republic.” Teraan shrugged. “He’ll occasionally tell us about the battles he fought in, but rarely anything else. I personally think there’s something missing in his life. Got him drunk once to try to figure it out. I failed, but I did learn how he got his name.”

“Really?” Kaeden said, leaning closer. “Tell us!”

Teraan smiled mischievously. “Apparently in his early days as a clone trooper he was involved in some demolitions training mishap and ended up being set on fire. His armor was supposedly extra crispy when all was said and done. One of his brothers started calling him ‘Crespi’ as a joke and the name stuck.”

Ahsoka smiled again, shaking her head in disbelief. But no, she wasn’t surprised. Some of the clones under her command had done crazier things.

Crespi called over. “Teraan! Quit slackin and get your arse over here! It’s time to move.”

With a smile, Teraan shrugged, put her helmet back on her head, and turned to run back to her commanding officer.

* * *

Why anyone would want to work down here was a question Crespi could only guess the answer to. These tunnels were dark and narrow, but there could be any number of things hiding in the shadows. They gave him flashbacks to the Second Battle of Geonosis.

He had once been a Lieutenant in the 41st Elite Corps early in the Clone Wars serving under General Unduli and Commander Gree. He remembered the fighting deep underground in the Geonosian catacombs. Danger had lurked around every corner there, the Geonosians knowing the ins and outs of the tunnels. It was a miracle Crespi had survived.

Shortly after Geonosis he had been promoted to Captain and transferred to a newly formed clone unit: the 116th Assault Battalion. It wasn’t until about a year later that Crespi was given a battlefield promotion to Commander. The 116th was on a mission with the 7th Siege Battalion. Commander Boar and both Jedi Generals were killed by a Separatist attack. Crespi had led the scattered remains of the battalion through Separatist fire and, with the help of the 7th’s Jedi Commander, breached the Separatist base, destroying it and extracting the survivors of the 116th and the 7th.

That was the first time he met Mylar Kila, the Cathar Jedi who was soon to become his… closest friend. The 7th was disbanded and the survivors were placed into the 116th. Crespi was promoted to Commander and Mylar was knighted and given command of the 116th as General.

Mylar… she had been so strong, yet so fragile and nervous… damn it had been so long since…

Crespi cursed himself for letting his mind wander. He needed to stay focused on the now.

Crespi had taken point. He had always led from the front. Kowalski was the two man, slightly behind Crespi but ready to cover him at a moment’s notice. Behind Kowalski was Tano, Hoop, and Dr. Larte. Tano was attempting to pinpoint where the creatures were, but she was having trouble. Hoop directed them on which tunnels to take. Then came Massey, who was helping Salvia carry Easely and covering them at the same time. Bringing up the rear was Rynn, Henry, Pulaski, and Teraan.

They had made it in about a hundred meters when they came upon a fork in the tunnel. Hoop directed them to the right, but Crespi could swear he heard something coming from the left tunnel. Crespi swung around and aimed the flashlight mounted on his E11 down the tunnel.

Nothing.

“Be careful,” he said into his comlink. “I think they know we’re here.”

“That’s the way we went the first time,” Massey said, indicating the tunnel on the left.

“Teraan, Pulaski. Eyes open. They might come in behind us then.” Crespi ordered. They sent an acknowledgement.

They continued on in silence slowly for a few minutes, Hoop not speaking, just pointing at the tunnels to take. Tano had her eyes closed, a hand on Dr. Larte’s shoulder to guide her as she concentrated deeply into the Force, trying to find the demons that plagued them.

“They’re all around us,” she said quietly. “I can feel their anger. They’re gushing a desire for blood. But what are they waiting for?”

“The kriff is that?” Kowalski asked, aiming his light down the right tunnel.

“Something left from the mine? Mineral deposits maybe?” Crespi proposed, trying to figure out what the strange hard substance on the walls was. It started thin, a smear on the already smooth rock walls, but soon became thicker and thicker until it covered everything.

“I’ve seen this before,” Ahsoka said. “In the vented parts of Charon Station, it was everywhere.”

Rynn called up from the back. “It’s some kind of resin. The aliens secrete it.”

They came to a bend in the tunnel. Crespi rounded it slowly, blaster pointed before him. There was a clatter of rock and he felt a chunk hit his shoulder pauldron. Crespi whirled, bringing his blaster to bear at where the rock had come from. Kowalski did the same, their flashlights illuminating the ceiling. “Nothing,” Kowalski said, “Just a loose rock that fell from the stuff.”

“Clear on this end,” came Tano’s voice. She had swung around them and stood guard, facing the rest of the tunnel. Her eyes were narrowed, lightsaber in hand, but extinguished.

“Keep moving. Nice and easy,” Crespi said, moving around Tano to resume his point position.

They advanced maybe a hundred more meters before coming on another fork. A thin haze had developed around their feet. Somehow the dry tunnel air became filled with moisture.

“I think we go to the left here,” Hoop said.

“Good,” Ahsoka said. “I can feel their hate, coming from the right.”

“Then we go to the left,” Crespi said, leading the way.

As soon as they entered the tunnel though, they realized something was off. The walls of this tunnel were different. Instead of smooth resin, these tunnels were coated in a material that seemed like a cross between something alive and something molded from glass. It was glossy and somewhat translucent, taking the light from their torches and making it move in weird patterns.

“This shit feels like a spider’s web,” Pulaski said from the back.

“First spider I see get’s shot to hell,” Teraan responded. “I can’t stand those things.”

Pushing that unsettling thought aside, Crespi continued forward and up the small slope that had developed. Thankfully, despite its smooth appearance, the strange material offered plenty of hand and footholds. There was a slight moisture in the tunnel though that pooled in some places making some portions slick and slippery.

“I think I see something up ahead,” Kowalski said, placing an arm on Crespi’s shoulder and pointing forward.

“I see it too,” was the response. “A hole or aperture of some kind.”

They continued forward. Nothing came out of the shadows at them yet, which was surprising. Massey had said that his squad had come under attack quickly.

“Look out!” 

Suddenly Crespi heard Kowalski cry in surprise and he felt himself get shoved forward by something.

* * *

Ahsoka was nervous. It was a strange feeling, this unease and uncertainty. She had only felt something like this a couple times before. Once on the Trandoshian hunting moon, but there she knew her enemies. Trandoshans may be dangerous, but at least the Force worked against them. Another time was after she left the Temple. She remembered the uncertainty of whether she’d be able to eat or find a place to stay the night. But there she had only had to worry about herself.

Here she knew the lives of about a dozen people on her hands. Yes, the stormtroopers could take care of themselves, but she had sworn they’d all get out of here.

And this was like no enemy she had ever faced before. She’d have to figure out some way to fight them. She couldn’t use her conventional Force powers on them. She had already seen a Force Push, which should have sent the creature flying, do nothing. Her lightsaber was effective, but if she got hit by any of that creature’s blood it would all be over for her.

Thankfully the creatures still gave away their presence. That wave of rage and hatred marked both where they were coming from and when they were approaching.

Wait a second…

She could feel something. One of those beacons of fury getting closer. It was so close, but neither Crespi nor Teraan and Pulaski had raised an alert. Hang on… it wasn’t approaching them laterally, it was on top of them!

Ahsoka came back to herself, feeling the small ripples of displaced air and the subtle vibrations of claws on silica. “Look out!” she yelled, pushing both Kowalski and Crespi forward with the Force out of harm’s way.

The monster dropped down in front of her out of the ceiling, folding and unfolding itself as it turned in mid-air to land on its powerful legs. Ahsoka didn’t think, merely acted, darting underneath it as it fell. Ahsoka whirled in the cramped space, igniting her lightsaber as she did.

The blade sliced through the alien, bisecting it completely. It shrieked once then fell in two parts. Shoving Kaeden, Hoop, Massey and the rest back with the Force, she dove forward again in a forward roll, avoiding the acid spray of its blood.

Ahsoka got back to her feet, lightsaber humming and casting shadows along the incongruous interior of the tunnel. She closed the lightsaber and listened with her montrals for any air displacement around them that might be caused by more of the aliens. 

There were none.

Massey and Crespi crept under where the creature had appeared from and shined their torches upwards. The twin beams of light revealed a vertical tunnel stretching up into an inky darkness. They had never seen it, even walking directly underneath the opening.

“Come on,” Crespi said. “Let’s keep moving.”

They continued on through the tunnel, Ahsoka ready and waiting to act if another of the creatures came out at them.

But nothing did. Ahsoka could feel them all around her, emanating waves of hate and rage, but nothing came charging at them. It was almost as if they wanted them to continue going this way.

“Appreciate the save, but how did you know that thing would drop back there?” Crespi asked.

“On Shili, Togruta hunt using echolocation. My montrals were able to sense the movement based off the vibrations of displaced air.”

“So… what you’re saying is that you’re a motion detector?” Kaeden said. “Awesome!”

Ahsoka laughed. “I guess you could say that.”

They reached the hole in the tunnel, which was indeed an opening. Another tunnel branched off to the right, sloping up into darkness. Crespi and Kowalski dropped through the opening, swiveling their blasters and scanning for targets. “Holy kriff…” Kowalski said as he spotted something.

Ahsoka dropped through the opening, Kaeden, Hoop, and Massey right behind her. They were on a ledge overlooking a massive cavern. Various ledges and crags lined the walls, creating a path that would allow someone to travel up and down and across the walls. The ceiling was covered by some kind of glowworm-like arthropod, bathing the cavern in an eerie green light.

They stood perhaps three-quarters up the side of the cavern. “Down there!” Kaeden said, pointing at something below them in the distance as the rest dropped out of the strange tunnel behind them.

Below them and slightly around the side of the bowl was a well-lit entrance with what looked to be a supply depot of some kind. Hoop grunted as the rest of the stormtroopers set up a perimeter around them. “Must be the tunnel they dug into this place when Hunter found it.”

“If that’s correct,” Rynn said, moving her arm in an arc, “then there’s the ruins they found.”

Sure enough, in the direction Rynn was pointing was a massive construct. It was oblong and massive in size, so massive that Ahsoka guessed they were only looking at a fraction of the thing’s true size. But it was most definitely a ship of some sort.

The outer hull that they could see looked almost organic, as if it had been grown instead of built. The material flowed in intricate, natural patterns unlike anything she had ever seen. The patterns were interrupted by ripples in the hull, deep gouges into the material that marred it like scars from a melee weapon.

“So that’s the thing these creatures spawned from?” Crespi asked.

“As far as I can guess,” Kaeden said with a nod, “yes.”

“From what we heard,” Barriss joined in, the first time she had spoken since they entered the tunnels, “one of the mining teams found this cavern while digging a new tunnel. Miners were sent in to investigate the ruins and see if anything was salvageable.”

“Then all hell broke loose,” Rynn finished. “I don’t know if they were awakened by our presence, or if they were awake when the miners got here, but here we are.” She gave a short laugh. “You know I was supposed to come down here the day after the dropship crashed into the station. And here I am, who knows how late.”

Ahsoka frowned. She tuned out the noises from her friends, listening for something she didn’t want to hear. “Movement!”

There was a hiss from behind them and Pulaski and Teraan opened fire at the mouth of the tunnel. A couple blaster bolts hit the creature at an angle and ricocheted off its smooth, elongated head to impact in the rock walls of the cavern. They fired again, joined by Henry and Massey. The combined blasters punched holes in the alien’s body. The chitin shattered, letting acid blood flow out as the alien fell forward dead with a shriek. Two more appeared behind it and Ahsoka could sense other presences behind those.

Hoop ran up, the plasma torch held in his hands. With a roar of flame, he let loose a stream of superheated plasma into the mouth of the tunnel. Ahsoka, Henry, Kaeden, Rynn, and Barriss all squeezed their eyes shut and looked away to avoid being blinded by the flare. The stormtroopers’ helmets had polarization filters that worked automatically, but she still felt them flinch.

The two aliens shrieked as they were burned alive, the stormtroopers firing into their flailing, flaming bodies. The superheated plasma melted the strange silica-like material of the tunnel and liquified the rock. It came down on the blazing aliens, entombing them in magma.

When it was all said and done, the entrance behind them was no more, now a mass of cooling, altered rock.

Kowalski got up in Hoop’s face. “The kriff was that? You nearly killed us all!”

Hoop stood his ground. “You see one of those things, there’s probably a dozen. They can’t get to us from there now.”

“Great, but how are we gonna get out of here now? The depot tunnel down there leads back to the elevator we destroyed. They’ll probably be waiting for us there.”

Rynn answered for him. “There’s another entrance. After this place was discovered, another tunnel was dug into the other side. I was supposed to enter from that side.” She scanned the walls with a pair of macrobinoculars Crespi had handed to her. “Over there.” She lowered the binoculars and pointed at the other side of the ship. “We just need to get over there.” 

Sure enough, there was a small splotch of light against the darkness of the cavern.

Crespi got in between Kowalski and Hoop. “Right. We know where we need to go, now let’s get moving. The longer we wait here, the more time those things have to find a way to get us.”

Ahsoka had to give it to Crespi. His leadership skills were rather remarkable. A relentless drive to complete the next objective and he quashed any obstacle that stood in between him and it. Kowalski’s reluctance on the surface to venture down into the mines to find the last of his squad. Pulaski’s belief that Ahsoka and the Rebels couldn’t be trusted before they set out to reach the other turbolift. The conflict between Hoop and Kowalski. His relentlessness to see the mission through was on almost droid levels.

She’d have to remember to ask him about his experiences in the Clone Wars when this was all said and done.

* * *

The descent down the edge of the bowl was grueling and time consuming. The paths were narrow, sometimes there were large drop-offs to the next ledge. Rocks clattered down the side of the wall as footing gave out periodically.

After quite a few minutes, the group finally made it to a smoother, easier passage. It was a ridge that went down towards the center of the cavern, and was wide enough for two stormtroopers to walk shoulder to shoulder.

Rynn was closer to the back of the line, bringing up the rear with Henry and the two stormtroopers Pulaski and Teraan. They both seemed nice enough. Pulaski had admitted that he once wanted to be a scientist before his family had been killed in a Rebel attack. He may be a stormtrooper, but his love for biology was still there. Rynn had made an agreement with him that one day when they both escaped they would meet up for coffee and chat about science stuff.

Teraan had told her that she once befriended a pair of Twi’lek siblings on Alderaan and had even dated the male sibling to spite her parents, who wanted her to court a wealthy noble. Rynn liked both of them. Stormtroopers or no, they were still people. Now though, they were all quiet and serious, focused solely on the matter at hand. Every shadow could potentially be holding lethal danger.

And Goddess were there a bunch of shadows.

With rocks clattering around them from missed steps or unstable ground, it was a miracle that they hadn’t been swarmed by anything yet.

_ Hiss. _ Rynn’s head immediately snapped upwards towards what she could swear had been a hiss. It had to be one of those things!

She scanned the ceiling with her eyes. Fulcrum up ahead hadn’t made any reaction and was scanning the area before them with her eyes and montrals. Goddess what Rynn wouldn’t give to be a togruta right now with those montrals!

She continued looking upwards. The ceiling was bathed in a green glow from the species of arthropod that lived up there. Any other day she’d probably be attempting to climb up to the ceiling to get a specimen for study, but that would have to…

Wait! Did that shadow just move?

Above them and moving in their direction around the edge of the bowl Rynn swore she could see a shadow moving and the greenish glow of the worms reflecting off something.

It was the creature!

Rynn didn’t think. She acted. Raising her charge thumper, Rynn fired at what she thought was the alien.

_ Boom! _

The rest of the group stopped in surprise at the explosion as Rynn sighted the alien scuttling away from the blast. She reloaded and fired again.

_ BOOM! _

There might have been a shriek, but whatever noise followed the explosion was drowned out by the rumble that grew and grew.

Dislodged by the explosion, several tonnes of stone and rock had come loose from their delicate perches on the walls of the cavern. As they fell they dislodged more and more stone.

“Landslide! Run!” came the yell from Hoop.

The group took off running towards the ship, but no speed they could have ever achieved would have outrun the landslide. The rockslide slammed into the ridge. Something crashed into her and Rynn felt the ground disappear from under her feet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mwahahaha! Originally this chapter was supposed to be even longer, but I thought the cliffhanger was a great place to stop for now. I'm evil, I know. XD
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. As always, feel free to comment on anything you saw or thought while reading this. Constructive criticism is both welcomed and encouraged! I love hearing from my readers on what I could do better. After all, there's always room for improvement. And if you know someone who you think might enjoy this story, please pass it on and share it with them! :)


	8. Divide and Conquer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Split by the landslide and hounded by xenomorphs, our heroes find themselves driven into the abyss and make some discoveries along the way.

_ Clone Captain Crespi was slammed into a tree trunk as debris rained down upon him. There had been an explosion, artillery fire from the Separatist droids that now rained fire down upon them. Blasters roared, explosions boomed, clones screamed, droids sizzled with electric sparks. _

_ Extraction was impossible. The base before them was their only hope of escape. But they had to reach it first. Commander Boar was dead, Crespi was the highest ranking clone among the ranks of his quickly diminishing battalion, the only other commanding officer alive being a Cathar Jedi Padawan he barely knew. _

_ Crespi felt himself be dragged out of harm's way, brushing the debris off his battered armor. He turned his head, staring into the concerned face of the Jedi. The flare from what had to be an explosion lit her battle-worn feline face that was filled with worry. _

_ “Captain!” she yelled, shaking him. “Get up! We need to keep moving.” _

_ He blinked up, recognizing his surroundings. The dark jungle they had tried to sneak their way through flared again. He saw the small rise they used to avoid slogging through the swamp that he was now half-underwater in. Clones, his comrades, were all around them taking cover and returning fire against droid patrols as missiles impacted everywhere around them. _

_ One of his men shouted and both Crespi and the Jedi, Mylar Kila, turned to see a clone from the 116th being slaughtered by a… it had to be a new type of droid. What else could that be? _

_ It was black in color, as black as the void of space, bipedal, and had an elongated head somewhat reminiscent of the faceplates of battle droids. It’s long spindly arms grabbed the clone and a… a silvery tongue shot forward imploding the faceplate of the clone’s faceplate. Crespi opened fire with his DC-15A carbine, but the blaster bolts pinged and ricocheted off the strange droid. _

_ Mylar leaped to defend the clone she barely knew. She charged it, lightsaber raised and ready to strike, but the droid evaded, jumping up into the trees. Mylar stopped, her lightsaber at the ready as she scanned the trees above her.  _

_ She screamed as a sharp barbed point erupted from her chest, lifting her into the air with a spray of blood. The droid, no… it couldn’t be a droid, snarled and pulled its tail out, letting Mylar’s limp body drop to the marshy swamp with a splash. _

_ There was a second splash as the demon landed and began to stalk towards him. Mylar’s lifeless eyes stared endlessly into his. Crespi screamed. _

* * *

Crespi came to finding himself flat on his back with Dr. Larte and the medic Salvia looking over him with concern on their faces. He heard blasters firing repeatedly, and sat up. “What happened?” 

The two medtechs grabbed his shoulders to support him. “Easy,” Dr. Larte said. “You’ve taken a blow to the head. Possibly a concussion. We got hit by a rockslide, Ahsoka managed to avoid most of it and pulled us out of the rubble.”

His head throbbing, Crespi turned to see Kowalski and Massey on bended knee, blazing away at threats he couldn’t yet see. Commander Tano was standing in between them using the Force to throw rocks and small boulders one at a time at what were undoubtedly the approaching aliens in an attempt to slow them down or crush them. Easely was propped up against a massive boulder, blaster rifle up and ready. Crespi forced himself to his feet. “Where’s my helmet?”

Salvia gave it to him despite the glare he got from Dr. Larte. Medics were always like that when he went against their recommendations to rest. They didn’t have the time now. 

He was also quite fond of this helmet. He had been forced to use the standard Imperial stormtrooper helmet, but he had modified it with tech taken from the inside of his old Phase II helmet. Regulations tended to be less strict for independent units like his out in Wild Space. The perks of Imperial Deep Space Recon.

He went to Easely, who turned to him. “Good to see you on your feet sir!”

“Where are the others?”

“No sign of Teraan and Pulaski, sir. Two of the rebels are unaccounted for as well,” Easely reported.

“Damnit!” Crespi swore.

His comlink crackled, it was Kowalski. “We can’t stay here for long sir! They’re making a push.”

Crespi had never left men behind when he had the chance to save them, but he had no clue where Teraan or Pulaski had ended up. “ _ Fierfek! _ ” Crespi swore again, kicking a boulder. “Fall back towards the ship!” He ordered.

Salvia slung one of Easely’s arms over one shoulder, Dr. Larte took the other over her shoulder. Easely had gotten even more banged up in the landslide. The splint on his ankle had been redone and there was a bacta patch applied to one of his shoulders. The white stormtrooper armor had been stained with rock dust and a few rivulets of dried blood.

Hoop was limping with a bandage tied around his leg. Apparently he had sliced it open during the rockslide. Kowalski and Massey had fared better, as had Dr. Larte suffering only some superficial bruises and lacerations, maybe a few concussions as well, although Salvia was limping noticeably. Tano must have used those Jedi powers to escape the worst of the rockslide.

“Let’s go!” Crespi called. “Kowalski, take point! Massey, cover our shebs with Tano!”

As his eyes readjusted to the light, he saw the aliens out there, slinking along the walls. The sight of them caused his mind to immediately flash back to the… it wasn’t entirely a memory. There hadn’t been any of these creatures on that mission and Mylar hadn’t died there. The responsibility for her death fell on… Crespi immediately pushed the thought out of his mind, he had suffered from that thought for the last fifteen years or so. It wouldn’t do them any good to dwell on it now and distract himself.

The aliens surrounded his party on three sides, preventing them from going those ways. The only open path was… was the ship. It was almost as if they were herding them! Driving them towards the ship.

“Keep your eyes peeled, Kowalski. I think they want us to go into the ship.”

There was silence from his subordinate for a few moments before he heard one word. “Right.”

If there was a Creator, Crespi hoped the missing four were either dead and out of their misery, or at least faring better than they were.

* * *

Joseph Henry swept his flashlight across the ground in front of him, blaster up and ready to engage anything that came after them. His comlink had been busted in the rockslide and the Imperials were getting nothing but static on their end.

It was a miracle they hadn’t been buried alive, but the rockslide had carried the four of them somewhere in the massive cavern that now appeared to extend even further back than they expected. Or maybe they had fallen into another cavern below the one with the ship?

Henry couldn’t see the ship anywhere. They had found a path that led somewhere, and it was better than doing nothing or attempting a perilous climb up the massive pile of shifting rocks and boulders. Teraan stood behind him. Her helmet had been shattered by a boulder, so she left it back there. It was useless now anyways.

Rynn walked behind Teraan, head down in dejection. She had caused the rockslide in the first place by firing the thumper. She had lost it in the rockslide. Pulaski, who brought up the rear, had been furious with her, but Teraan had silenced him. They were all nervous and afraid, and division amongst the four of them would do no good. Teraan had given Rynn her secondary blaster pistol, a nice little piece of kit that she had confiscated from a smuggler a few months back.

Nothing had come after them so far. It was eerily silent, the only sounds being their breathing and the crunching of loose stone underfoot. Henry squinted as the beam from his flashlight caught something strange. A construction? 

He played his light out, seeing what appeared to be a structure of some kind. He shone the light further back, illuminating more and more constructions.

“Holy kriff,” he said, stopping dead in his tracks. “Hey Teraan, I think we’ve got a city down here.”

* * *

Ahsoka continued to block their path off behind them as well as she could, for what good it could do against alien creatures that scaled the walls like spiders. Crespi had said that the aliens were driving them back towards the ship, and from what she could see he was right.

The beasts moved swiftly, skirting around them to cut off any other avenue of escape. They reminded her of the stories she had heard of akuls on her homeworld of Shili.

The ground they traversed here was unlike the ground up on the ridge they had traversed previously. That one would have taken them right up to the ship and they would have been able to traverse the top of the ship, but down here eons of mineral deposits had left the ground uneven, rising to crest in some places and descending into small mini-craters in others. Some of the crests rose to chest height. She occasionally had to use the Force to levitate Easely over while Massey provided cover fire for her.

They made steady progress towards the huge gash in the side of the ship. Five aliens charged her and Massey. They moved like shadows, loping swiftly on all fours at them. Two came from the front, the other three coming from angles to their path.

Massey fired in bursts, peppering the ground and rocks around the dodging shadows. Ahsoka grabbed his shoulder and pulled Massey back. “Don’t waste your time! Maybe if they’re point blank.”

“They get that close and we’re dead!” Massey shouted back at her.

“Just run!” They both turned after their retreating comrades, leaping over the shorter mineral deposits and vaulting the taller ones. Ahsoka grabbed loose stones and bits of shale and tossed them backwards in a vain attempt to keep the aliens at distance. Ahsoka had accepted the fact that her conventional force attacks did not work against the aliens, but that didn’t mean she was defenseless. They still worked on the rocks and sand. For whatever good it would do against the aliens.

If it was just one of them, she would have stood and fought with her remaining lightsaber. It had proved highly successful in killing the aliens. She wouldn’t stand a chance against five of them. Ahsoka doubted even Master Windu or Master Obi-Wan, two of the best swordsmen the Jedi Order had, could go against the shadows and win.

They met back up with the others at the base of the ship. Crespi pointed up at the side of the ship. “That gash right there. That’ll be the easiest way to get inside the ship.”

“You want us to go inside?” Barriss asked incredulously.

“You want to make a stand out here?” Crespi fired back.

Kowalski sighed. “Too open. They could easily flank us out here.”

Crespi nodded. “Tano, I’ll need you to levitate us up. We can’t move him up there any other way and it would take too long for the rest of us to climb. Kowalski, get up there and make a perimeter. Massey, you and me will cover Tano.”

“Wait,” Ahsoka was surprised at the outburst from Barriss. The Mirialan hadn’t said much thus far. “Ahsoka isn’t the only one who can lift them up… I can as well.”

* * *

Barriss had kept a low profile, helping in the background, to avoid provoking Ahsoka again. She had been shocked at Ahsoka’s presence on Charon Station, but then again, seeing an old friend again after fifteen years or so would be a shock to anyone.

Barriss never thought she would see her togruta friend again after she was sentenced to life in prison for bombing the Jedi Temple. She hadn’t wanted anything bad to happen to Ahsoka, she had wanted her friend to see what she had seen: the corruption of the dark side eating away at both the Republic and the Jedi Order. Barriss had only wanted the best for Ahsoka, but it had all spiraled out of control so quickly.

She didn’t blame Ahsoka for her outburst. If the roles had been reversed, Barriss probably would have done the same. All Barriss could do was stay out of Ahsoka’s way and help wherever she could. But the situation had changed. Ahsoka couldn’t possibly get every single one of their group up into the ship by herself before the aliens reached them. Barriss could help, so she did.

Crespi turned to look at her and she could hear the surprise in his voice. “You’re a Jedi too?”

“Not any more,” Barriss shook her head. “There’s no time to explain, we must act before we’re overrun.”

Crespi shrugged, then ran back to take up a fire position with Massey, who was blazing away at the aliens behind them. One of them shrieked as Massey stitched its chest with a burst of blaster fire.  _ So much for the myth of stormtroopers not being able to hit anything. _ Barriss thought with a laugh. She winced though, when she saw the fury in Ahsoka’s eyes directed at her. Somehow Barriss managed to shrug it off and focus on the task at hand.

It had been a while since Barriss had used the Force for anything other than healing. She had told the Rebel operative who recruited her that she was a spiritual healer, but hid the fact that she was once a Jedi from everyone. At least until now. Despite the tidal wave of the aliens’ hatred pounding against her mental shields, the Force flowed around Barriss and she gracefully lifted Kowalski up into the air towards the opening. Ahsoka did the same for Easely, who flailed a bit as he felt the ground leave his feet.

Kowalski grabbed the edge of the gash and pulled himself through. There was no shout, no cry of alarm, and Kowalski reported the landing clear and Ahsoka sent Easely the rest of the way in. Kowalski grabbed him at the top, hauling him inside. Next Barriss lifted Hoop up, while Ahsoka lifted Kaeden.

Ahsoka laughed as Kaeden rose to grab Kowalski’s outstretched hand. “Kind of like Raada, eh Kaeden?”

“First time I’ve been suspended in the air since then.” Kaeden laughed back as her feet hit the floor of the ship, safely inside.

Ahsoka suddenly stiffened and she whirled to the left and looked up. Barriss followed her gaze and her breath caught in her throat. On the side of the ship was one of the aliens, scuttling towards them like some obscene scorpion. Ahsoka acted instantly, picking up a boulder with the Force and chucking it at the creature. The alien jumped aside with surprising agility.

Barriss grabbed another boulder as Massey and Crespi began to withdraw to the ship. Barriss and Ahsoka continued to bombard the creature with loose rocks. Flying at speed, they knocked the alien off the side of the ship. Blaster fire rained down from Kowalski above them who now had a clear shot. The alien split apart with a shriek.

With no one else at the base of the ship besides Crespi and Massey, Barriss and Ahsoka both summoned the Force around them and jumped up to the ledge in a single leap, then turned and grabbed hold of the two stormtroopers below them.

Ahsoka stood there momentarily, scanning the ground below them. “They’re not following us,” she said quietly. “They’re just waiting out there.”

“There have to be more of them in here then,” Barriss remarked. She spun and focused with the Force, reaching out for anything inside the ship. All she felt was that general sense of malice and anger the creatures poured out into the Force. 

They were strange, these creatures. How something could exist outside the Force, yet pour so much rage and hate into it was a mystery. If the aliens weren’t trying to kill them, Barriss would have wanted to study them and see why they acted the way they did.

“You with the plasma torch,” Crespi looked over at Hoop.

“Hooper. Corey Hooper.” Hoop responded.

“Hooper, seal this entrance. I don’t want them coming in after we leave.”

“Sir,” Easely looked at his commanding officer with alarm. “Surely you don’t mean to seal us in here!”

Crespi shook his head. “We have no choice. Our only way forwards is through the ship. Maybe we can find an exit hatch or another hull breach. If there are other creatures in here, I’d rather whittle down their numbers than give them the option of reinforcements through here.”

Hoop looked over at Ahsoka, who nodded in deference to Crespi. “Do it.”

They all backed away, Kowalski and Massey covering their backs. The plasma torch roared to life, the flare blinding them in the dim light provided by the stormtroopers’ weaponlights. Hoop aimed at the ceiling, liquifying the organic, coral-like material that made up the walls, floor, and ceiling of the ship. The semi-molten material fell to the ground until it finally had sealed the passage, leaving the only available light being the stormtrooper’s weapon lights and Ahsoka’s lightsaber.

* * *

It certainly was a city, there was no doubt about that. Weapon lights illuminated structure after crumbling structure along a street. The walls were made of a strange organic material that felt a lot like some kind of coral. There was no sign of any technology similar to what the galaxy at large used.

“Do you think that ship came from here?” Teraan asked.

“Either that or it was coming here,” was Pulaski’s response.

“Hold up,” came a low command from Henry. “I saw something through that doorway.”

“Ski, cover him. I’ll stand guard,” Teraan ordered.

Pulaski moved over to the doorway to join Henry, blaster raised and trained on the opening. He followed Henry inside, checking the corners for anything that might jump out at them. Henry called out clear. 

“Clear, no hostiles,” Pulaski confirmed. He gasped as his light shone through an interior door. “Henry, Teraan. I’ve got a body over here.” Pulaski moved over through the threshold into the room with the body. “Multiple bodies and something else.”

Teraan and Rynn both entered behind Henry. There were several mummified bodies plastered to the coral walls. Before them lay open urns of some kind. Teraan touched one with the toe of her boot and it crumbled into dust before their eyes. “Fossilized,” she said, turning her attention to the bodies. 

The bodies were a horrific sight to behold. They were tall, muscular, and humanoid. Some had jet black hair around a sloping forehead, others had none. They had no noses, only a cavity where what looked like nostrils sat. Spines covered their hard, cracked skin. 

One thing they all had in common though: a massive hole in their chest. Skin and bone were splintered outwards as if they had exploded from within. Their faces were contorted in pain.

Rynn pulled out a datapad that somehow had not been damaged or lost in the landslide. “I need to document all this.” She toggled the holorecorder function and snapped multiple holos. The intensity of the flash in the dark interior of the room blinded Henry and Teraan, who were not wearing anything over their eyes.

Henry ventured through another door, finding a similar setup. These strange aliens, different than the chitinous demons that had hounded them so far, had been strung up on the wall, all with holes punched out of their chests. On the ground were more of the strange urns, all open and dried out except for…

“Hey guys! I’ve got a closed urn over here!”

Pulaski, Teraan, and Rynn all piled into the room, knocking more brittle urns into dust. This unopened one appeared different, not only in the fact that it had a top. This one did not appear brittle like the others. This one actually appeared to be moist or damp. There was some kind of cross on the top. The beams from the stormtroopers’ weapon lights and Henry’s flashlight, the urn almost appeared to be translucent. Something was inside it.

Rynn snapped a couple holos of it, the flare of the flash once again blinding them.

There was a squishing sound as their eyes readjusted to the dimly-lit conditions and they realized the top of the urn had opened. Four pieces had separated and pulled apart like the petals of a flower.

“What the-?” Henry, who was standing the closest to it, crouched down and leaned forward. Why Henry did so, he didn’t know. Some instinct in his brain was telling him to investigate the contents of the strange urn.

“Get away from it!” Teraan yelled. “We don’t know what that is!”

Henry didn’t move. It was as if he was transfixed by the urn. Teraan saw something twitch near the top. Her finger instinctively landed on the trigger of her E-11 blaster rifle and she fired twice.

The twin reports of the blaster and pair of red blaster bolts slamming into the urn seemed to snap Henry out of his trance. He fell backwards as the urn exploded with a shriek, spraying fleshy chunks on the walls behind it.

“There was something alive in there!” Rynn said, picking up the flashlight Henry had dropped as he fell backwards. She peered at the smoking remains. There were chunks with a leathery outside and a fleshy inside all over the floor, pieces of the urn. She toed one with her boot and found a long, thin segmented rod underneath it. It looked suspiciously like a tail.

“I don’t think these were urns,” Rynn said, worry rising in her face. “I think these are eggs. We just killed something’s offspring.”

“Hey, uh… Rynn?” Henry asked. They turned to look at him. Some kind of goop landed on Henry’s left forearm and gloved left hand. “This stuff isn’t acid, is it?”

Henry’s question was answered for him when his sleeve and glove began to bubble and smoke. The caustic liquid burned through his clothing and into his flesh. Henry screamed. 

Rynn ran over to him. A heavy shudder went through Henry and Rynn grabbed his right arm. “Don’t spread it!” She ripped her sleeve off and handed it to Teraan, who quickly turned it into a tourniquet at Henry’s shoulder. The Rebel security officer looked faint and his forehead had broken out in a heavy sweat. “He’s going into shock,” Teraan diagnosed.

Pulaski suddenly turned to the doorway, tapping at the side of his helmet. From outside, he could hear the skittering of claws against stone. “We’ve got company!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say other than this chapter was rather fun to write. Barriss finally got to do something and the separate group of four has stumbled onto an unforeseen discovery.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. As always, feel more than welcome to comment on anything you saw or thought. I welcome all feedback, yes including criticism on what I could do better. There's always room for me to improve my writing. If you know someone who would enjoy this story, please feel free to spread the word. :)


	9. Undertow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Surrounded by aliens on all sides, it's a desperate struggle for survival against overwhelming odds, and the only way out leads them deeper and deeper into unknown territory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is a little late in the day, but I want to say "Happy Independence Day" to all my fellow American readers! I hope everyone is doing well and that you all enjoy this new chapter.

Teraan immediately snapped up into action, slapping a new tibanna gas cartridge home into her blaster. Both her and Pulaski’s blasters were trained on the entrance to the small chamber they were in. “Rynn, get Henry ready to move.”

The twi’lek complied, slinging Henry’s good arm over her shoulders and struggling to pull the larger man to his feet. She held the blaster Teraan had given her in her quivering free hand.

Teraan and Pulaski crouched on either side of the entrance. Pulaski spoke quietly. “Nothing’s appearing on infrared.”

“Maybe they don’t register on infrared?” Rynn suggested, drawing a quiet curse from Teraan. They flipped on weapon lights, casting cones of light through the entrance to illuminate the fossilized eggs. 

_ Skritch. Skritch. Skritch. _They could hear the skittering of claws against stone coming closer, then stop.

Teraan looked at Pulaski, locking eyes with him through the helmet he wore. She motioned with a small twitch of her head and he nodded. Teraan slowly advanced out into the next room, hugging the wall left of the entrance. Pulaski followed, going the opposite way. They advanced towards the entrance of that room, hugging the walls as they did to minimize the chances of being flanked or cut off.

The quiet shouted into Teraan’s ears. The aliens were out there somewhere, searching for them.

Pulaski and Teraan extinguished their torches, plunging them into near complete darkness. Pulaski thought he saw something flit across his vision, a shadow. He pulled out a flare, igniting it and throwing it through the entrance to land amongst loose stones, casting red light and shadows everywhere.

There was some more skittering and the clatter of rocks being loosened and kicked, but nothing came to the flare itself. Pulaski turned his head over to look at Teraan. She jerked her head back towards where Rynn and Henry were now kneeling. The muzzle of Rynn’s blaster was sticking out of the entrance, shaking with fear and nervousness.

Pulaski and Teraan slowly began backtracking towards Rynn. Pulaski froze, hearing a new sound. A slow, methodical dripping. Something hit his shoulder. A clear stream of viscous liquid slowly ran down the white plastoid. He flipped his weapon light on and slowly raised it towards the ceiling, still backtracking as quietly as he could.

Instead of the organic coral that made the walls and floor of the structure, the ceiling glinted in the light like obsidian. A head swiveled and an eyeless face peered straight into his own. Pulaski opened fire with a yell, falling backwards as he did.

The aliens detached from the ceiling, dropping down on top of him and Teraan. Teraan dodged out of the way of an alien and fired, hitting it multiple times in the skull, her blaster’s power blowing it into a smoking crater.

Pulaski fell onto his back, blazing away at the creatures. He cut one down, but another ran up behind it’s fallen brethren and pounced. Iron arms locked around Pulaski’s torso and his finger instinctively reacted by jerking on the trigger of his blaster, blowing a hole in the alien’s torso.

The creature’s blood poured out over his armor, melting through it. Melted plastoid fused to skin as the acid ate its way through the body glove into the flesh underneath. 

Pulaski screamed.

* * *

Teraan heard Pulaski scream, but in the split second that she saw his spasming body underneath a dead alien she knew it was too late for him. She turned and sprinted towards the entrance to Rynn and Henry’s chamber, crossing the distance in a couple strides.

She heard Rynn yell for her to duck, and Teraan immediately dove in a forward roll as Rynn managed to land a hit on the alien that was right behind her. Claws had closed inches from Teraan’s neck. She flipped over onto her back and opened up into it with her blaster, blowing holes in its chest.

Acid blood hit the plastoid on her left leg. Teraan tore it off the body glove before it ate through, throwing the ruined piece of armor to the side. Scrambling backwards, she spared one last glance at Pulaski, who was now motionless and silent. Her eyes widened as she spotted one of the grenades smoking on his belt, the acid having eaten into it.

Teraan turned and dove into Rynn and Henry, knocking them to the ground as the grenade exploded. Multiple subsequent detonations followed as the other grenades he had went off, the shockwaves blowing the entrance open and throwing Teraan into the wall.

* * *

Crespi fell in step with Barriss as they slowly but steadily advanced through the alien ship. Ahsoka and Kowalski once again taking point, her lightsaber extinguished but in hand. Massey watched their backs with Hoop. Kaeden had taken over helping to carry Easely. It was obvious that Crespi wanted to talk with Barriss about her knowledge of the Force.

“So you were once a Jedi as well?” Crespi asked the question Barriss had been expecting.

“I was,” Barriss responded. She didn’t want to admit too much. Staying tight-lipped had kept her alive for years under the Empire’s reign.

“And?” Crespi asked expectantly. “How did you survive the Purge?”

“I was not a part of the Jedi Order during the Purge,” Barriss admitted. “The Jedi in me died long beforehand.”

“What do you mean?”

Barriss glanced towards Ahsoka, fearful of saying something that would cause her old friend to go off. The togruta could probably hear them right now. Crespi spotted her wary glance. He probably put two and two together having noticed the anger and distrust that flooded Ahsoka’s face whenever she looked at Barriss. Crespi leaned in and whispered. “Did it have something to do with Tano?”

She nodded silently. Crespi got the message. “I understand.”

Crespi quickened his pace back to the point group. She respected that about Crespi, he always led from the front even with his accelerated aging. Ahsoka turned her head at the sound of Crespi’s approach, but didn’t pay it much mind and continued reaching out through the Force in an attempt to locate the aliens through their hate and rage.

Barriss wasn’t sure what she should be feeling right now. It had been so many years since she had last seen her friend. The Ahsoka Barriss remembered had been the one standing before the Senate, about to receive the verdict of getting sentenced to death… all because of Barriss. Barriss remembered the disbelief in Ahsoka’s eyes when Knight Skywalker stormed in, Barriss dragged in flanked by four temple guards. She remembered the disbelief turn into betrayal as Barriss condemned the Jedi before the Senate.

She never meant for everything to happen that way. Barriss had been trying to help her friend… to _ save _ her. Dark times were coming, that Barriss had been certain of. The Jedi Order had strayed from their role as galactic peacekeepers to become generals in a war that they should never have been in. Barriss knew that they would be destroyed by it, but had wanted to prevent Ahsoka from being dragged down with the Order. So Barriss had acted.

The war had corrupted many things in Barriss’ life. She wanted to prevent Ahsoka from being scarred forever by the horrors of war. She had felt a bond form between the two of them in the aftermath of destroying the factory on Geonosis and had felt it strengthen when Ahsoka refused to kill Barriss after she had become infected by the brain worms.

Ahsoka was like a younger sister to Barriss, who was a few years older than the togruta. Barriss had tried to get Ahsoka to see that there was more beyond living as a warrior. They had spent many nights on the roof of the Jedi Temple, watching speeders crisscross the sky as they discussed many things: the war, the Force, what their futures would hold. Barriss had expressed her desire to travel the galaxy as a Jedi Peacekeeper once the war was over, healing the communities that had been ravaged by the Clone War. Ahsoka had not known what to do once the war ended. Her entire training had been marked by warfare. Barriss had told her to do whatever felt natural. Whatever Ahsoka felt she should do.

Feelings didn’t come with ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ labels. You felt what you felt. Barriss knew what she had felt: the imminent destruction of the Jedi. So Barriss had framed Ahsoka for the bombing of the Jedi Temple, knowing that she would be found guilty and sentenced to prison. Barriss would leave the Order in protest, and break Ahsoka out of prison when the Jedi inevitably fell. Then they would lose themselves in the galaxy, helping any struggling communities they came across.

But then Admiral Tarkin had pushed for Ahsoka to receive the death sentence and everything fell apart. Barriss couldn't come forward then, she didn't want to die. Just as she would abandon the Jedi to save Ahsoka, Barriss had abandoned Ahsoka to save herself. Why Barriss wasn’t sentenced to death, she didn’t know.

And now Ahsoka had been thrown back into her life. She looked different: fiercer, hardened by years of living covertly under the Empire’s reign. She was still a warrior… Barriss guessed that was all Ahsoka knew how to be.

Barriss was happy for her friend though. She had seen the way Ahsoka looked at Doctor Larte and had felt the happiness in the togruta of seeing the Doctor alive again. It was similar to the happiness and joy Barriss felt when seeing friends that had survived long, difficult battles. They were obviously good friends, maybe even more than that based on the feelings of pure joy that had radiated out of Kaeden when Fulcrum had first entered the medbay.

Barriss doubted she’d escape this mine alive, that any of them would. They were facing an enemy they had never seen before with limited effective weaponry in an unknown environment.

But if anyone was going to get out alive, Barriss would put her money on Ahsoka.

* * *

The corridor twisted and turned, ending at a stairwell leading down deeper into the ship. Ahsoka couldn’t sense anything moving nearby, but she did sense something odd. Somewhere in the direction they needed to go, Ahsoka could sense a faint sign of life. Someone was alive… but it almost felt as if they were subdued.

Ahsoka told Crespi of what she had felt, and he nodded gravely. “Perhaps my missing stormtroopers.”

They descended the stairs slowly, coming out into a large room with vaulted ceilings. As they came out into it, Ahsoka’s face scrunched up as a nasty smell bombarded her. It was the same that had made the dropship so unpleasant.

Mining equipment lay scattered across the ground, strewn randomly. Dark spots stained the ground, with streaks leading down one corridor. Blood trails. Pits and holes dotted the floor, no doubt where the aliens’ acid blood had been spilled and melted through.

The coral walls and ceiling were coated in the same glossy resin that the mining tunnels and vented corridors in Charon Station had. Lights had been strung up. “This must be where the miners had come through,” Hoop said as the rearguard entered the chamber.

Kowalski rose from his crouching position over a pick-axe that had bloodstains on the handle and a melted metal head. “A skirmish took place here, the bodies of your mining crew were dragged through there.” He pointed towards an opening, one through which Ahsoka could feel the faint life forms.

“Then that’s where we’re going,” Ahsoka said.

Easely looked at her like she had grown another montral. “You can’t be serious! Those things have to be waiting for us down there!”

Crespi shook his head. “No, I agree with Tano. The way back just takes us back to where we entered. Into the waiting arms of the aliens.”

“Better the enemy you know than the one you don’t,” Kowalski said. “We could be walking into an ambush. At least the other way we’ll know they’re going to ambush us.”

“No,” came a voice from behind them. It was Massey, who for the most part had stayed silent about tactical decisions. “The Captain and Commander Tano are right. We won’t get anywhere without taking a few risks. We turn back, we're dead. We push onward, we have at least a fighting chance of reaching the other turbolift and escaping.”

Easely and Kowalski were quiet for a moment, before they each gave a terse nod. Obviously they weren’t thrilled at the idea of going deeper into the ship, and to be honest Ahsoka wasn’t too keen on it either, but it was the best option they had. Especially now that there was…

“Movement!” she yelled as she spun to face the entrance to the corridor the miners had used to get to this chamber.

“Hooper,” Crespi ordered. “Seal it.”

Hoop nodded and everyone not wearing a stormtrooper helmet looked away. The plasma torch flared brightly as Hoop fired it at the entrance to seal it. The stormtroopers stood guard, blasters raised in case something came through before it was sealed. 

Something did burst through the liquified coral material. The alien shrieked as it charged, globs of molten liquid hardening on its carapace. Four blasters opened up as Hoop swiveled the torch to hit the alien. The charging creature burst into flames as the blaster bolts cut it in half. Hoop continued working on the entrance as acrid smoke rose from the flaming remains.

Hoop finally shut off the plasma torch. “How much fuel do you have left?” Ahsoka asked him.

Hoop checked and then grunted. “Enough.”

There was a shriek from the barrier that had been formed by Hoop’s torch. As the material had hardened and solidified, an alien had become trapped inside. It struggled and thrashed wildly, held fast by the altered coral.

“Leave it!” Crespi ordered, pushing the barrel of Kowalski’s blaster up and away from the struggling beast. “You shoot that thing and the acid will eat a hole right through it. They’ll be behind us instantly.”

Kowalski looked at Crespi warily, then nodded and backed off.

The group turned and continued to follow the lights the miners had strung up, now darkened by the cable having been severed by Hoop’s plasma torch. 

Ahsoka led the way, her lightsaber ignited. Crespi followed, and for a split second Ahsoka could fool herself that she was back in the Clone Wars with Rex at her side.

She pushed that thought aside. It would do no good to get distracted here.

* * *

Teraan pushed herself up onto all fours, acrid smoke heavy in the air. She coughed violently, wiping dust and grit away from her eyes. Groping along the ground she found her blaster rifle, pulling it to herself. 

Teraan came to her knees as the smoke began to clear. Both Rynn and Henry lay on the ground, moving slightly. Good. They were still alive. Teraan heard the screech of aliens and knew they weren’t out of danger yet. Seeing her sidearm on the ground where Rynn had dropped it, Teraan picked it up and leaned against the shattered entrance to the chamber they were in.

She lifted both weapons. Sighting an alien charging, she tracked it with her blasters and began blazing away. Multiple blaster bolts hit it in the head and torso and the alien fell with a shriek.

Teraan was lucky. The entrance to the structure they were trapped in had created a chokepoint. The aliens had given up any pretense of stealth and were attempting to overwhelm them through sheer numbers. The bottleneck the entrance created gave her an advantage over them.

She cut down alien after alien that appeared in the entrance, but they kept coming, clambering over the shattered, bleeding corpses of their brethren. One took Teraan by surprise, dropping down before her from the ceiling. Her pistol ran dry, but the E-11 fired true, multiple blasts from it shattered the alien’s carapace, but Teraan had to give up her position to avoid being hit by the acid blood.

She dropped into cover, hastily trying to reload her blaster pistol. An alien leaped into their chamber as she did, its claws grabbing into her shoulder, slicing through the body glove around the plastoid shoulder pauldron. Henry’s blaster fire caught it from behind in the joint between head and neck. Its blood nearly missed Teraan as she twisted out of the way, slapping home a new power pack and rolling out of cover to blaze away into the other chamber. Rivulets of blood ran down her arm from the nasty gash on her left shoulder.

She couldn’t keep this up for long. Aliens kept dropping down from the ceiling, and while it took a moment for them to attack after landing-a moment she used to fill them full of plasma, her arm was struggling to hold her blaster up. It was only a matter of time until they got her.

Teraan set her teeth and continued blazing away until something grabbed her right shoulder and yanked her backwards.

* * *

Rynn had watched as Teraan stood in a crouch, twin blasters spitting death at anything that came inside her killzone. Her face, illuminated by the constant muzzle flashes, was wild and crazed with desperation.

Smoke rose from the alien lying dead on the ground before them, but also from the wall opposite Rynn and Henry. The acidic blood splash had hit it and weakened the wall, forming cracks that she could make out in the dim, smoke-hazed lighting.

She took Henry’s blaster pistol, which had fallen back in his lap, and fired multiple times at the cracks. Soon enough, they shattered completely and a portion of the wall fell away big enough for them to squeeze through.

Rynn pulled Henry’s good arm over her shoulders and helped him to his feet with a stumble. Teraan hadn’t even flinched from the blasterfire behind her. Rynn pulled Henry through the opening and sat him down on the ground, before returning to grab Teraan’s shoulder.

Teraan fired as she turned, almost shooting Rynn’s head off as she did. The blaster fired into the far wall, Rynn flinching away from it.

“We need to move now! Come on!” Rynn shouted, pointing to the opening she had created.

Teraan nodded, throwing a grenade into the other room and continuing to lay down suppressive fire as the timer counted down to detonation. With a couple seconds left, Teraan turned and ran, diving through the opening behind Rynn as the explosion tore through the pursuing aliens.

Teraan and Rynn helped Henry to his feet and took off through the underground city, leaving the smoking remains of at least a dozen aliens behind.

* * *

The path was clear of hostiles, descending down deeper into the ship. The foul stench of the aliens grew stronger and the air was becoming heavier and heavier with moisture. Sweat broke out over unprotected faces. Kaeden’s medical officer uniform plastered itself to her skin as she helped Easely hobble down the decline.

Salvia being revealed as a former Jedi was somewhat of a surprise to Kaeden. It would certainly explain the Mirialan’s affinity for healing minor injuries and helping to stabilize patients with nasty blaster burns. It could also explain why Ahsoka was so hostile to Salvia. If they were both Jedi, they might have known each other before the Empire’s rise. What had happened between the two of them to create so much bad blood… Kaeden could only guess. Given Ahsoka’s outburst back on Charon Station, Salvia must have done something that made Ahsoka feel betrayed.

Still, regardless of the fact that they were Jedi no more, two Jedi were better than one. Especially in this situation

The path before them leveled out and opened up into another chamber. There was a generator on one side before what looked like a terminal.

“Easely, see what you can make of this terminal,” came Crespi’s voice.

Salvia and Kaeden helped Easely limp over to the terminal and set him down before it. He inspected it for a moment.

“Strange… very strange,” he said, pulling out a datapad. “This terminal doesn’t appear to run like ours do. It seems to be organic in both construction and storage.”

Massey’s voice bordered on astonished. “You’re telling me this shit is alive?”

“Scans indicate that the storage component of this thing is organic, most likely grown. If I can match it with the proper frequency, I might be able to access whatever data is stored on there.”

Crespi nodded, clearly not comprehending what Easely had said, but trusting that the comtech was correct. “Do it.”

As Easely got to work with his datapad, Kaeden noticed Ahsoka looked… unsettled and kept glancing over at a portion of wall.

The two visible entrances to the chamber were covered by a stormtrooper each. Crespi had noticed Ahsoka’s unusual behavior and moved over to her. Kaeden joined, asking a question. “Is something wrong, Ahsoka?”

“I can feel something alive, back there,” she said, pointing at the darkened portion of wall. “Not the aliens, but alive like we are.”

Crespi tilted his head, before he nodded. “Let’s check it out.”

“I’ll come with you,” Kaeden said, unholstering the blaster Crespi had given her back on the surface. At the looks both Ahsoka and Crespi gave her, she responded with: “If someone is alive back there, they might need medical attention.” Kaeden saw nothing but worry for her well-being in Ahsoka’s eyes, but the togruta gave a reluctant nod.

Kaeden understood why Ahsoka was wary to bring her along. There was safety in numbers, but honestly, Kaeden felt safest at Ahsoka’s side. The togruta just projected such a state of confidence and strength that it made Kaeden feel stronger.

Ahsoka led the way in, passing underneath a portion of the wall that had seemed to have collapsed inward. On the other side was something akin to the hell that was the dropship they rode down to the surface in.

Several stormtroopers had been strung up on the walls… no, cocooned was a better term. Some kind of webbing held them in place above strange ovoid containers that sat on the ground, their tops peeled open. Weird crab-like things lay on the ground, dead and motionless. Kaeden recalled seeing one or two on the ground of the dropship.

All but one stormtrooper had a large, bloody hole in their chests, the same wounds that the miners in the dropship had had. Ahsoka moved to the last stormtrooper. “He’s still alive!”

Kaeden immediately dropped into ‘Doctor mode’, checking the stormtrooper’s pulse and vitals. Crespi spoke behind her. “It’s Choi, one of the squad that Massey took down here.”

Choi’s eyes snapped open, startling Kaeden into falling backwards onto her rear. His eyes were unfocused and almost mad, and his his voice was raspy when he spoke. “Kill… kill me.”

Crespi put a hand on Choi’s shoulder. “It’s going to be alright, Choi. We’ll get you out of here.”

“No no no. Please kill me!” Choi screamed as he began to convulse violently. Crespi jerked back as Choi’s body spasmed and contorted, a bloodcurdling cry erupting from the doomed stormtrooper’s mouth.

There was a cracking sound and fractures opened in the chestplate of Choi’s armor. Red blood seeped out and there was a metallic cry as the chestplate cracked open completely. Blood sprayed out onto Crespi’s armor and from the cavity slithered a small fanged skull, hissing with malice.

The air hummed as Ahsoka’s lightsaber swung down, carving through flesh, armor, and chitin. The alien baby fell in two pieces, acidic blood gushing out onto the floor.

Crespi just stood there, eyes-wide in shock at what he had just seen. Kaeden turned to Ahsoka, who’s attention was now focused on the ceiling above them. She turned to Kaeden, fear evident in her face.

“Something’s coming,” Ahsoka grabbed Crespi by the back of his armor and pulled him with her. “Run!”

A second or two later, a shadow dropped down from the ceiling, unfolding into the silhouette that Kaeden and the others had come to fear.

The alien was here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Figured it was time for some more action, don't y'all think? It will continue to ramp up in the next chapter as both groups are driven deeper and deeper into alien territory.
> 
> As usual, feel free to let me know what you thought of this chapter in the comments. I welcome feedback of all types, including criticism on what I can improve on. If you love this story and know someone else who would, please feel free to share it with them. :)


	10. Matriarch of the Void

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The survivors continue their fight for survival, pushing deeper into the alien ship only to stumble upon the greatest threat yet. Forced to deal with threats on all sides, Ahsoka makes a choice she will come to regret.

Easely had just finished finding the right frequency and was downloading what he could from the terminal. “It looks like audio files, but they’re in some strange language.”

Kowalski turned his head from the corridor leading deeper into the ship. “You think a protocol droid could translate it?”

“I think so,” Easely said, returning his datapad to his belt. “If they can’t, I don’t know who could.”

Kowalski nodded and turned back to his post. Nothing had come out so far and his mind used the respite to process everything that had happened here.

The twenty man reconnaissance squad he was a part of had been reduced to four: himself, Easely, Massey, and Crespi. Pulaski and Teraan were nowhere to be found since the rockslide and were in all likelihood dead. He was working with self-admitted rebels and even a couple of kriffing Jedi inside an ancient crashed starship being chased by an alien species no one had encountered before! Had anyone told Kowalski that he would be in this situation a few weeks ago he would have told them to get off deathsticks.

His sister would have loved this place, minus the aliens of course. Lysa had always been fascinated with archeology, but the Rebel terrorist attack that killed his parents and seriously injured her had shot down her dreams. She ended up as a shuttle pilot and mechanic while he went to the Imperial Academy to avenge the death of his parents. A few years later she managed to create her own business, a deep space salvage company. Financial problems still plagued her, but Brennan sending most of his salary to support her had kept the business from going under. She enjoyed it, the salvage company allowed her to partially continue her dream of becoming an archeologist, especially when she was called on to salvage anything ancient.

_ Like this place. _ That thought brought Kowalski back to the here and now. Crespi and Tano had been gone for a while, and that unsettled him.

“Massey, cover this entrance. Hooper, you take his place. I’m going after the Captain.”

Massey and Hooper gave an affirmative and Kowalski walked the same path that Crespi, Tano, and Dr. Larte had taken. He found the opening in the material in the wall and stepped through. A bloodcurdling scream stopped him in his tracks. It was followed by a yowling and the sound of Tano’s lightsaber cutting through something.

“Run!” came Tano’s shout after a moment of still silence. Kowalski ran forward, bursting into the chamber to find Dr. Larte running full speed towards him followed by Tano, who seemed to be dragging Crespi behind her.

Behind them was an alien, it rose from the crouch it had landed in. Kowalski snapped his blaster up and fired a couple quick shots as the other three ran past him. Dr. Larte called for him to flee as the blaster bolts ricocheted off the alien’s carapace.

It looked different from what they had seen previously. Instead of the smooth or ridged oblong heads, this one had a jagged crest of some kind attached to its head. 

Kowalski backed up, firing as he did. The alien charged, and Kowalski dove to the side. His dodge was a little late, as the alien swatted him aside with a backhanded strike. Kowalski was thrown by the blow into a wall, his blaster flying away from him as he struck. Pain lanced through his chest and he gritted his teeth. ‘Probably a broken rib,’ he thought.

Kowalski looked back towards the alien, expecting to see it charging after him. But there was nothing there. Just a long segmented tail that disappeared through the entrance.

He heard more blaster fire and dragged himself onto all fours. Only now did Kowalski take stock of his surroundings. What he saw nearly made him puke.

His fellow stormtroopers, his friends, had been strung up on the walls in cocoons of some sort and all had giant cavities in their chests where something had burst out. Choi had been bisected by Tano’s lightsaber, but at his feet lay the bisected corpse of what had to be a baby alien.

The revelation struck Kowalski like a sledge. His friends had been turned into incubators for the aliens. He reached for his blaster, but something caught his eye. One of the stormtroopers that had been strung up was the squad’s sniper, and her sniper rifle was still strapped onto her back.

Pulling out his combat knife, Kowalski cut through the secretions holding poor Smyth onto the wall. He managed to create enough space to unclip the sling holding the A295 sniper rifle she had preferred on her back. The whole room rumbled and shook and he fell backwards, pulling the sniper out into his hands as he did. 

Holstering his E-11, Kowalski limped out to find a battle raging. He took aim.

* * *

In the larger outer chamber, Ahsoka could see the alien’s true size. It was larger than the other aliens they had faced so far, at least 10 feet in height, and its head had some weird crest that she hadn’t seen before on any of the others.

Massey acted first, throwing a concussive grenade over their heads. It hit the alien in the head and detonated on contact, staggering the alien.

Every blaster they had opened fire at it, chipping away at the beast’s skin which was almost like armor. It roared and charged right at Ahsoka, who backflipped out of the way.

Everyone who could move scattered out of the way, seeking cover where they could find it. Despite his busted leg, Easely still managed to get to the shelter of a small outcropping of cover.

The alien stopped momentarily and roared into the air. Massey popped out of cover and fired a burst, striking and deflecting off the alien’s crest. It’s tail lashed out in retaliation, lancing towards Massey who moved at the last second. The barbed tail gouged through Massey’s plastoid armor, carving a furrow that nearly broke through to hit the skin.

Two normal aliens dropped down from above, likely responding to the large one’s roar. One charged for Crespi, who for some reason had not fired once in the entire encounter. Ahsoka grabbed him with the Force and pulled him out of harm’s way to herself.

A burst of blasterfire from behind cut down the alien with a shriek. As it fell, Ahsoka saw who the shooter was and nodded with pleasant surprise. “I got one!” Kaeden yelled with happiness and shock in her voice.

“There’s hope for you yet, Doctor,” yelled Massey in response. He whipped out a vibroknife and threw it with surprising accuracy into the neck of the second smaller alien. It shrieked in pain and anger, clawing at the vibroknife that was now corroding in the river of acid blood that ran from the wound.

The room shook and Ahsoka looked over to see Barriss, eyes welded shut in deep concentration, with her arms outstretched towards the ceiling. Cracks formed in the secretions that covered everything and whole chunks were torn free, falling towards the aliens. One crashed down on the smaller alien, crushing it. Others hit the big one, staggering it again. It reared up, standing to its full height, about to roar again.

Suddenly, a scarlet blaster bolt exploded from the alien’s throat, decapitating it. As the beast fell to the ground, everyone looked behind it to see Kowalski limping towards them, dropping a long barreled sniper rifle to the ground.

“So… what did I miss?”

* * *

_ Crespi ran and fired. Droids exploded and sizzled around him. General Kila… Mylar’s squad had gotten pinned down and were under constant assault from droid forces. Crespi could hear the sounds of battle and her cries over the comlink, but then everything cut off. He couldn’t raise Mylar or any of the clones with her, getting nothing but static. _

_ Terror and apprehension rose in his gut, but he forced it down. They were okay. They had to be. _

_ The last of the droids fell away, and Crespi broke into a zone littered with dead clones. Mylar was nowhere to be found. He heard her calling for help and ran after her. The Separatists would not take her. _

_ Crespi followed turn after dark turn following her pained cries, surprisingly finding no droids at all. His apprehension rose even more, threatening to spill over. _

_ He couldn’t stop now. He had to find her. _

_ Crespi finally came out in a dark chamber, finding Mylar cocooned against a strange wall. He ran to her side, telling her everything would be okay. _

_ Her back arched and contorted as she screamed. Crespi watched in horror as his General’s chest bulged and split open, blood spurting over his armor and soaking her fur. A long black snake-like creature hissed as it wriggled out. It stared at him for a moment, then launched itself at his face. _

* * *

“He appears to be coming out of it,” Dr. Larte said as Crespi’s eyes came back into focus on the world around him.

“What… happened?” Crespi said, his head falling onto his left hand as he scanned the rubble that lay before them.

“We got ambushed by a large alien. Are you feeling okay?” Dr. Larte asked.

Crespi grunted, his mind flashing back to what he had seen. Seeing Mylar… in the grips of those things… “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure, sir?” Easely asked. “You were pretty out of it during that fight.”

Mylar’s lifeless eyes stared at him, taunting him. Crespi shook his head and his vision cleared. “I’m fine. Let’s keep moving.”

Crespi pulled his helmet on and looked up straight into Tano’s eyes. She looked at him with concern and doubt that he was okay. Damn it, Mylar used to do the same whenever he or anyone under her command took a blaster shot and kept moving. The wave of remorse and regret hit him again, but he forced it away.

The mission was incomplete, they had yet to escape from the ship so far and the only viable path continued deeper. There’d be time for emotions later, once they were out of here.

Getting distracted now would be a death penalty. He barked out the order. “Let’s move people!”

* * *

They continued deeper and deeper into the ship, approaching what Ahsoka guessed had to be close to halfway through the ship, maybe a bit further than that judging on the distance they had covered so far. The air became more and more humid, feeling more oppressive than it ever had. The walls and floor were slippery from the moisture in the air. A stench bombarded their senses, the stench of dead and decaying material.

The walls began to narrow until the group had to walk single file. Barriss, Kaeden, and Easely had to shuffle sideways through the passage

“I don’t like this,” Kowalski said, following the dried trail of blood that was on the ground.

“Perfect place for an ambush,” Crespi said. “Stay alert. Tano, yell the moment you feel anything move towards us.” Crespi angled his weapon light towards the ceiling, watching for any tunnels from which an alien could drop down on them.

The tunnel began a steady downward slope that then leveled out. It opened slightly into a circular hub, another passage branching off at a right angle to the left that led deeper and further back into the ship was sealed over completely by the alien secretions. The survivors kept going straight, the tunnel sloping upwards.

“I see an opening!” Kowalski said in a hushed whisper.

Ahsoka reached out, but could sense nothing in the chamber before them. Nothing moved. Nothing stirred or hated. All those signals came from behind them. But what was strange was that those signals were not following. They were just sitting there, motionless.

The uneasy thought that they had been herded to this chamber could not be dislodged from Ahsoka’s head.

Kowalski eased through the opening, flanking one way while Crespi went the other. Ahsoka walked through the opening, lightsabers ready, but unignited. She ducked under something hanging from the ceiling, a long cylindrical translucent tube.

On the other wall, figures were plastered to the wall by the same web-like material that had held Crespi’s stormtroopers. They were of a species she didn’t recognize, with sloping foreheads, hard skin, and they were missing a nose which made each of them have a skeletal appearance. They had decomposed in the humid air of the chamber, and it appeared that some skin and flesh had been stripped from them by scavengers looking for food.

Ahsoka moved past the low-hanging cylinder and gasped as she turned to something out of the corner of her eye. Kowalski and Crespi both snapped their blasters up, ready to fire. They visibly faltered though when they laid eyes on what lay before them.

Above and before them was an alien larger than even the one they had just fought. Multi-legged with a massive crest on its head, this was no ordinary alien.

Ahsoka spotted the ovoid objects dotting the ground amongst a layer of mist. Her eyes went up to the translucent sack hanging from the ceiling. She turned back to regard the beast.

This was an alien queen.

* * *

Kowalski rested his finger on the trigger as he aimed at the giant alien queen. It remained motionless, the only sound being a slow, rhythmic hiss. He whispered into his helmet comlink. “Sir, I think it’s asleep.”

“Copy that,” came Crespi’s response. “No sudden movements, we don’t want to wake it up.”

Kowalski threaded his way onto a small rise over the ground, as he looked out over the chamber, his weapon light illuminated several pits filled with ovoid objects under a thin layer of mist. The rise he stood on branched out in multiple directions, separating the ovoid things into pits. The walls of each pit were lined with organic beings in various stages of decomposition plastered to the edges of the pits. He noticed that wherever there were figures strung up against the walls, the ovoid objects had opened at the top.

“I think we’re in the middle of a breeding ground,” Commander Tano said over the comlink frequency. “That big one has to be a queen and has been laying those eggs you see everywhere. Stay alert.”

Kowalski continued along his raised walkway, Commander Tano on the other side of the pit he was currently skirting. There were other aliens in this large chamber, which Kowalksi had to guess was once a cargo hold or something like that. These aliens were similar to the one whose head he had blown off with Smyth’s sniper rifle. The crests on these ones’ heads were smaller and spikier compared to the Queen’s crest.

They were, thankfully, also dormant like the Alien Queen. They were all folded up in alcoves along the walls, surrounding the Queen.

“Commander,” he whispered over to Tano. “More of the one that attacked us. If that big mama is the Queen, then these must be her royal guard. Her Praetorians, if you will.” Commander Tano looked over at him and nodded. Her eyes looked strained, as if she was devoting a great deal of concentration into the Force. “Is everything alright, Commander?”

“I’m fine,” she said. “Trying to prevent them from detecting us through the Force.”

Kowalski nodded and moved onwards. In the corner of his eye, he saw Crespi and Massey both come around the other side of the Queen. Sweeping his eyes across the room, he spotted a fissure in one wall. Toggling his comlink, Kowalski reported in. “Sir, I think I’ve found an exit from this chamber.”

“Good work, trooper,” Crespi responded. “Check it out, we’ll cover you.”

Kowalski advanced with swift, steady feet, not disturbing anything that lay above, below, or around them. Reaching the exit, he eased through the opening, snapping his E-11 from position to position with the fluid precision of a trained stormtrooper.

Nothing launched itself from the shadows to mutilate him, but he did spot a stairway circling up. Pressing on, keeping his back to the wall to avoid being flanked, he crept up the first couple stairs. Removing his helmet, Kowalski could feel a faint breeze.

He smiled. They had their way out.

* * *

Kowalski’s presence in the Force was beaming with excitement. Ahsoka cracked down further, smothering his presence like she was currently doing for all the others. It was similar to what she had done for the past decade and a half, concealing her presence in the Force to avoid detection by agents of the dark side.

Whether or not the technique worked against these aliens was another story. But they remained dormant for now, so Ahsoka had to assume that it was working.

Kowalski’s voice cut in over the comlink frequency they were all tuned into. “Sir, I’ve located a stairwell with a breeze coming through it. I believe it’s a way out of here.”

Kaeden, Barriss, Easely, and Hoop finally joined back up with the main group, having taken extra time moving an injured man sideways through a narrow passage and then across the minefield of alien eggs carefully and quietly.

Kaeden and Barriss both showed signs of exhaustion. Sweat was pouring down their faces and they moved slowly and sluggishly. “I… we need a rest,” Kaeden said while panting, drawing in deep breaths. “I don’t think we can make it up that stairwell in this shape.”

Suddenly, Ahsoka’s montrals picked up another faint sensation. She felt the faint echoes of the movement of a void in the Force. It came from above them and was heading towards them.

“They probably mean to seal off our escape route,” Crespi said. “Kowalski is a good soldier, but he can’t hold that position alone and it would take too much time to get these guys up those stairs. They’ll be on top of us by then.”

Anger built up inside Ahsoka. Her voice was low to avoid waking the aliens around them, but anyone listening could hear the snarl in her words. “No way in kriffing Sith hell am I leaving them behind!”

“I don’t intend to,” Crespi said, his voice remaining emotionless and unchanged. “We split up. You and I go to reinforce Kowalski and hold that bridgehead while these guys recuperate quickly. We hold the exit long enough for them to rendezvous with us and get out of this forsaken ship. The combined firepower of Massey, Easely, Hooper, Dr. Larte, and your other Jedi’s skill with the Force should be enough to protect them.”

Ahsoka closed her eyes, her mind reverting back to the strategic and tactical thinking she had honed during the Clone Wars. She didn’t like leaving Kaeden behind, even temporarily. The thought of entrusting Barriss with protecting Kaeden also left a sour taste in Ahsoka’s mouth.

But… what Crespi had proposed made sense. They needed to hold both positions, and she knew that pushing Kaeden, Barriss, and Easely too hard would only result in them collapsing at what could be a critical moment.

As if reading her mind, Kaeden put a comforting hand on Ahsoka’s shoulder and smiled. “We’ll be okay. Go.”

“I don’t like this, Kaeden.”

“I know you don’t,” Kaeden’s eyes sparkled with affection and understanding. “But if you don’t go now we might never make it out of here.”

Ahsoka gripped Kaeden’s hand and squeezed, giving her a small nod. Kaeden smiled again and nodded back. Ahsoka turned to Crespi and keyed her comlink. “Kowalski, we’re on our way.”

* * *

Kaeden unscrewed the cap on a flask of water, eagerly drinking a gulp to replenish all the fluids she had lost to sweat from helping Easely through the tunnels. She sighed as the cool liquid ran down her throat, then took another before she went to inspect the dressing on Easely’s wounds. She readjusted the splint on his leg, getting an expression of gratitude from Easely.

Kaeden sat back down, leaning her head back against the wall and closing her eyes. She regulated her breathing, taking deep breaths to avoid hyperventilation. Bringing her breathing back under control, she took another drink of water.

Kaeden toggled her comlink. “Ahsoka, everything okay up there?”

“No sign of them yet,” Ahsoka replied. “I can sense them moving around, but no visuals. Don’t take too long.”

“We’ll be up there in a few minutes,” Kaeden said.

There was the double click of the mic that indicated Ahsoka had received and acknowledged her message, so Kaeden turned hers off. She turned her head to look through the passageway to look out over the Alien Queen’s chamber, then looked over to the other Jedi, Salvia.

Salvia sat cross legged, eyes closed and her hands in her lap. Kaeden guessed she was meditating. Salvia’s eyes snapped open, filled with worry. “Something’s wrong?”

Kaeden rose and crept to the edge of the opening into the Queen’s chamber. She noticed something was up. “Where’s Massey?”

Salvia answered as Hoop primed his plasma torch. “I can feel him inside the chamber.”

Various scenarios flew through Kaeden’s mind. Did the aliens snatch him unaware and take him into the breeding pits?

There was a creaking sound from inside the chamber, followed by a few blaster shots. The others with Kaeden crowded around the entrance, Hoop barely inside the chamber and Easely lying prone on the ground.

Through the steam came multiple of the Praetorians. The Queen herself stirred, and roared upon spotting Kaeden and the others.

Hoop opened up with his plasma torch, hitting and igniting the closest Praetorian. Every blaster they had opened up at it, a hail of blaster bolts slammed into the Praetorian. The combined hail of fire and the blazing flames dropped it to the ground, a position from which it didn’t get back up.

“Fall back!” Hoop yelled.

“We can’t!” Easely responded. “We won’t be able to outrun them up those stairs. We’ll need to make a stand down here.”

Kaeden reached up to her headset comlink. “Ahsoka! We need support now! They’re awake!”

There was silence for a moment. Then Kaeden heard Kowalski’s voice. “Go Commander! I can hold them off while you cover their retreat.”

Ahsoka spoke, urgency and desperation in her voice. “Hold on Kaeden, Crespi and I are on the way.”

A Praetorian reached the opening, forcing Kaeden and the others to leave the confines for the protection of space to dodge. Had they been stuck in that narrow space, the Praetorian would have ripped them to shreds. Easely got lucky, having wedged himself under the stairwell, the Praetorian could not get him easily, and with other targets, especially a Force user, it left him alone.

Salvia ripped the cocooned bodies from their mountings and hurled them at the aliens with the Force, doing whatever she could to distract them from the others. Hoop set fire to another Praetorian, but barely survived its counter strike. A flaming claw slashed through his shirt, lighting it on fire. Hoop immediately shrugged the plasma torch off his back to prevent it from detonating, then dropped to the ground to smother the blaze. His screams reverberated through the chamber, oddly echoing and mixing with the shrieks of the aliens.

Blasterfire from behind to the underside of one of the Praetorian’s crests dropped one. The crest sheared off. The Praetorian shrieked and cried in alarm, and then something peculiar happened.

The Praetorian next to it pounced, tearing it’s brethren to shreds as if it was an enemy. Kaeden stared in shocked wonder at the sight.

“Doctor, look out!” Salvia cried, snapping Kaeden’s attention back to the present. Before her was one of the pits filled with the sealed ovoid things that Ahsoka believed were eggs. The ovoid objects opened at the top with a squeal, like some form of demon flower.

Kaeden saw something move in them and fired. Hot plasma burned through one, then another, but there were too many. A little crab-shaped creature scuttled out and jumped at her, striking Kaeden in the chest with surprising force, knocking her to the ground. She somehow managed to throw it off, but her blaster bolt missed it on the ground.

The crab-thing launched itself at her again, this time aiming for her face. Kaeden brought a hand up to cover her face and it slammed against her forearm. The creature’s tail swung around, wrapping itself around her neck in the blink of an eye and it started pulling.

Kaeden’s arms slipped and the creature drug itself over them, slamming into her face. It smashed her nose, making her eyes well up with tears. It’s leg appendages wrapped around her head and Kaeden desperately grabbed at them blindly with her hands, but they had locked around her skull.

The tail around her neck tightened like a steel cable, causing Kaeden to gasp. The second her jaws parted, something shot between her teeth, forcing its way down her throat and painfully wedging her jaws apart.

Tears burned in her eyes as the last thing she heard before the darkness claimed her was Ahsoka screaming her name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I think I should address the elephant in the room. If you're here primarily for the Kaeden/Ahsoka pairing and stop reading because of what I just wrote, I totally understand and will not blame you for leaving. I just want you to know that I struggled back and forth with the choice to make Kaeden the victim of a facehugger for a long time, but in the end decided this was the best course I could take for what I have planned later on. I will say though that Kaeden is not dead yet. Anything can happen.
> 
> That being said, feel free to leave to leave your thoughts in the comments. Praise, criticism, hate... anything goes. 
> 
> Next chapter: Ahsoka's reaction to Kaeden's facehugging and we check in on Henry, Rynn, and Teraan.


	11. Whirlwind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chaos is unleashed: Ahsoka goes beserk against the xenomorphs; Teraan, Rynn, and Henry struggle to find an escape from the ruined alien city; and a stormtrooper goes rogue.

Ahsoka flew down the stairwell, pouring every ounce of energy she had into her muscles to run faster and faster. The aliens had awoken, and she had left Kaeden behind with them. The group still had some formidable firepower in the form of Massey, Easely, and Hoop’s plasma torch, but Ahsoka didn’t trust any of them with Kaeden’s safety.

Kaeden was one of the few friends Ahsoka had left in this galaxy. Obi-Wan had disappeared, likely dead at the hands of the Empire, and she feared something far worse had happened to Anakin. Riyo and Lux were both still a part of the Senate, making it close to impossible for Ahsoka to speak to them. They both still believed her to have died in the Purge, something she had agreed on with Bail to protect them.

No, besides Bail and Rex, Kaeden was the only good friend Ahsoka had left in her life. Plus, Kaeden had helped Ahsoka find her feet and her calling after the Purge had left her aimless, drifting from one planet to the next.

Plus, Ahsoka had promised Kaeden that they’d both make it out of this damn mine. And Ahsoka always did her best to keep her promises.

She dashed out of the stairwell landing, nearly getting shot by Easely who had backed himself into an alcove and fired repeatedly at the Praetorians. Ahsoka made it into the chamber and quickly scanned the area around her. Hoop was lying on the ground, attempting to smother the flames that burned his jumpsuit. She could feel Massey somewhere in the darkness, likely snatched by the aliens when they awoke.

Her eyes fell on Kaeden firing away at a few of the smaller crab-like aliens coming from the ovoid objects dotting the ground. She shot a couple, but Ahsoka’s heart launched into her throat as she saw one of them spring up at the doctor, knocking Kaeden to the ground, then jumping at her again.

Ahsoka sprinted over as the crustacean looking alien dragged itself onto her face. Kaeden’s arms flailed, blindly trying to pull the thing off. Ahsoka screamed her name, pure fear ripping out of her vocal cords as she came to a knee beside Kaeden’s now-motionless body. 

She saw Kaeden’s chest still rising and falling in rhythm. At least she was still breathing.

Ahsoka grabbed at the alien hugging Kaeden’s face and tried to pull it off. The leg appendages wrapped around Kaeden’s skull held fast and the only result Ahsoka saw from her desperate tugging was a trickle of blood running down Kaeden’s cheek.

The realization struck Ahsoka like a Star Destroyer coming out of hyperspace. She wouldn’t be able to pry the thing off Kaeden without tearing off Kaeden’s beautiful face as well.

That knowledge trickled down from Ahsoka’s brain through her body until it hit her heart, where it ignited into a blazing hot fury. Her eyes narrowed as they burned with anger and she swung her head around to glare at the Alien Queen, which sat atop its ovipositor, screeching what were most likely orders to her royal guards.

The Queen had laid the eggs from which the thing that incapacitated Kaeden had hatched. A need to lash out and strike back boiled through Ahsoka’s every vein. She saw in her mind’s eye what she could do, what she had to do... so she did.

Ahsoka reached out with the Force, feeling the blank void where the Alien Queen existed. She felt along the edges of it, finding a radius from which to act. Ahsoka may not have been able to attack the queen directly with the Force, but she knew in her heart there was another method.

Ahsoka reached out with both hands and found that radius she envisioned surrounding the void. Ahsoka grasped the air surrounding it, and pushed it all inwards toward the core of her radius.

The Alien Queen ceased her screeching, instead swiveling her head to gaze at Ahsoka with what almost seemed to be astonishment. Soon, it began screeching again, this time in pain and agony as all the air Ahsoka was compressing around it began to crush its exoskeleton.

Ahsoka ramped up her hold on the air surrounding the Queen, pressing more and more inside her radius to crush the void. The Queen squealed as its carapace dented under the onslaught, but Ahsoka did not let up. Ahsoka’s hands balled into fists and she pushed all her fury and anger into her grip. The Queen gave one final shriek as its exoskeleton gave way. It imploded, chitin shattering apart.

Ahsoka opened her fists and straightened up. She drew her remaining lightsaber and smiled as she ignited it, her eyes filling with morbid satisfaction. The aliens had hurt Kaeden, and she had struck back by killing their queen. And even better? Ahsoka was only getting started.

* * *

Subtlety didn’t matter anymore. Teraan ran through the ancient city, her blaster rifle constantly scanning the ruins all around them for any sign of the aliens. Rynn trailed just behind her, helping keep Henry on his feet.

Teraan heard the clatter of stones at her 8 o’clock, pivoted, and cut loose a burst of blaster fire that nearly hit one of the aliens. She tracked the alien and led her shots before the loping demon. It ran straight into them, it’s body blowing apart in a spray of acid blood.

Teraan did a quick sweep with her eyes and weapon light, but the multitude of aliens charging towards them got Teraan to turn and run after Henry and Rynn. She fired as she went, but doubted that any of the shots had hit. Taking a grenade off her belt, Teraan lobbed it behind her.

The explosion tore through some of the aliens, but it didn’t stop two of them.

One of the aliens traversed along the walls and onto the ceiling, skittering past her. It dropped down, forcing Teraan to dive to the side in an evasive roll. Teraan unloaded her blaster into it, firing a rapid burst that reduced the alien’s head to a stump.

The other alien ignored her and leaped from the wall after Rynn and Henry. Teraan shouted a warning as she fired at it, missing the rapidly moving target. Henry must have seen it in his peripheral vision because he shoved Rynn to the side, out of the alien’s path. The alien swiped with a claw as he stumbled. Henry’s stumble avoided the killing blow, but did not clear him from the claw itself.

The alien shredded Henry’s back, the sharp claw tearing through flesh and muscle. He collapsed with a scream, the tatters of his clothes stained a deep red. Teraan fired again, barely missing the alien’s elongated head. It turned to her, obviously identifying her as a greater threat.

The alien leapt a considerable distance, gaining ground on Teraan before she could react. She fell backwards as the alien lunged, its arms locking around where her chest had been only seconds prior. Instead her feet slammed into its stomach, and its momentum carried it over Teraan’s head. She kicked out as she rolled with it, launching the alien in an arc away from her on its original trajectory.

The alien screeched as it impaled itself on a sharp stalagmite. Teraan clambered back to her feet and silenced it with a few shots to the head from her blaster.

Seeing no more aliens in her immediate vicinity, Teraan ran over to Henry. Rynn was already at his side, clutching the rebel soldier’s hand, tears in her eyes.

“How bad is it?” Henry asked. His voice sounded pained, but clear and lucid.

“It’s bad,” Teraan said. From what she saw, she didn’t think Henry would make it out.

Henry pointed beyond them. “There. I see an opening.” Teraan turned and sure enough, set into the wall near them was what looked like an opening, possibly a way out.

“Come on,” she said, grasping one of Henry’s arms and trying to pull him to his feet. “I’m not leaving you behind.”

Rynn picked up his other arm and they half-carried, half-dragged Henry over to where the opening was. Sure enough, the tunnel sloped upwards at a somewhat steep angle. It was similar to the tunnel they had used to reach the ship’s chamber, with plenty of hand and footholds to climb with.

Teraan’s head snapped around at the sound of skittering claws on stone and the screeching of aliens that had caught their scent. Henry slumped to the ground despite their attempts to keep him upright.

“Come on, Henry!” Rynn pleaded. “You can make it.”

“No,” Henry said, his voice calm. “It’s too late for me and I’ll only slow you down. You two have a better chance of getting out if you leave me here.”

Teraan locked eyes with him and Henry smiled. “Can I have a couple grenades please?” Silently, Teraan handed them over to him. He nodded once, and gave her a weak salute. “It was an honor to fight beside you.”

She nodded back and gripped his good hand with hers. A silent message of respect passed through the contact, one warrior to another.

With that, Teraan grabbed Rynn and pushed her into the tunnel to begin climbing. A minute later the tunnel shook with an explosion below them.

* * *

Crespi watched in astonishment as the Alien Queen imploded before him. Commander Tano stood there, over Dr. Larte’s motionless body, as she drew her lightsaber and ignited it. Despite the humidity in the chamber, Crespi almost felt a chill pass through him, as if the temperature of the room had dropped.

With a roar of primal rage that rivaled anything the aliens put out, Tano launched herself at the remaining three Praetorians and however many of the regular aliens were inside the Queen’s chamber. She moved as a blur, white lightsaber whirling so fast that Crespi couldn’t see a distinct blade, just a blurred sphere of white fire.

Crespi had heard of the destructive potential that Jedi had. Stories about how they moved so fast that they could no longer be tracked by the naked eye and how they could kill a person in less than a heartbeat. Mylar had been fast, but she had never been as fast or ferocious as Tano was now.

Tano tore through the Queen’s ovipositor that hung from the ceiling, still connected to jagged bits and pieces of the Queen’s fractured exoskeleton. The lightsaber tore through the translucent material with ease and shattered the eggs inside.

Every alien in the chamber zeroed in on Tano. Yet she didn’t shy away, instead she charged straight into all of them. Her lightsaber flashed and arced, cutting through the smaller aliens before they had a chance to strike back. One of the Praetorians stumbled as one of its legs was severed from its body. Either Tano was moving too fast to be hit by the acid blood or she just didn’t care at this point.

Something flashed past Crespi’s peripheral vision and he thought he saw a blur of white armor as Tano reached the opposite wall, jumping off it back towards the toppled Praetorian. She sliced down, carving a good chuck out of the Praetorian’s crest. She dropped into a roll and came up, motionless for the first time. Her lightsaber flickered and died, but that didn’t stop Tano. Throwing her hands to the sides and slightly behind her, she then slowly brought them both before her.

The air seemed to warp around her hands. It took on a dark, sickly blue-greenish hue as it grew more and more unstable before Tano finally unleashed the awesome energy she had stored up. It flew in a ball towards the nearest Praetorian, but just before it hit the alien Ahsoka ripped her arms apart and the barely contained ball of energy exploded.

Despite the aliens’ apparent immunity to the Force, it stood no chance against the magnitude of the shockwaves the explosion sent out. At such close range, the shockwaves tore it apart. The other upright Praetorian staggered and the crippled one was knocked to the ground again. The smaller, lighter aliens were thrown violently into the walls where some of them shattered. Others dropped to the ground in a dazed state.

Crespi got to his feet and turned to look back at Tano, but saw that she had been thrown backwards into the wall by the shockwaves. She did not get up. Crespi reacted immediately, needing to grab the aliens’ attention before they could harm her. Crespi picked up the plasma torch that Hooper had dropped on the ground. He primed it and let loose.

The stream of plasma ignited immediately, spewing roaring fire over the remaining alien eggs. That done, Crespi turned and torched the remaining aliens. The crippled Praetorian collapsed as its weakened armor collapsed completely and cooked its insides. The normal aliens shrieked in rage and pain, flailing about until Crespi cut them down with his E-11.

Hooper staggered back to the stairwell landing, his face and chest the recipients of nasty burns. Salvia had made it back as well, levitating Tano and Dr. Larte with the Force. That task accomplished, Salvia turned back towards the Praetorian, ripping more chunks out of the roof and dropping them onto it.

Already weakened from prior combat against the others and Tano and the raging inferno all around it, the Praetorian did not get up from the shots Easely put into it from his alcove. The plasma torch ran dry, and Crespi dropped it before turning back to the stairwell landing.

* * *

Kowalski watched in amazement as the aliens seemed to back off. They hadn’t posed too much of a threat since the Captain and Commander had left to reinforce the others, probing his defenses to find a weakness. The good news about being at the slash on top of the ship was that he had excellent firing lines, and being a skilled marksman allowed Kowalski to hold the bridgehead with ease.

They had seemed to fall into shocked silence right before the ship underneath him seemed to rumble. Then some backed off, while others charged in a frenzy. Kowalski was able to easily cut them down at range with precise shots. It was quiet for a minute after that, but Kowalski did not let his guard down.

He heard running coming from below and behind him. Kowalski recognized the sound of stormtrooper boots pounding the ground. He turned his head slightly to see Massey, helmet missing, long gauge marks on his armor from alien claws, and some kind of duffel bag slung around his shoulder.

“Massey, what-?” Kowalski’s question was cut off by Massey bringing his E-11 up quickly, snapping off a shot that hit Kowalski in the chestplate at an angle.

Without stopping to see if his shot had killed Kowalski, Massey continued running off towards the exit from the cavern.

Kowalski got to his feet despite the pain lancing through his chest. The blaster hadn’t hit anything vital and Kowalski’s chestplate had dispersed most of the energy from the shot.

Making a split-second decision, he took off running after the wayward stormtrooper.

* * *

Crespi took stock of the situation. Only him and Salvia were uninjured. Hooper was holding together despite the burns he had received. The adrenaline must have been pumping so much he just ignored the pain. Easely’s leg was messed up from earlier, and Massey had gone missing. Crespi had spotted his helmet lying on the ground, partially melted by acid. He had to assume the worst regarding the former bounty hunter.

Dr. Larte had been subdued by the weird alien crustacean thing. She was still alive and breathing somehow… either the thing was feeding her oxygen or her nose was unblocked. Crespi had a sinking feeling about what the thing was for, though he didn’t voice his fears. He had more pressing concerns.

Commander Tano was not in good shape either. She had been knocked unconscious by the shockwaves of the explosion she had caused. Her skin was also covered in numerous small lacerations and burns where she had been hit by pinpricks of acid.

Tano needed treatment, but they couldn’t administer it here. They needed to rendezvous with Kowalski, but Crespi also had to prevent the aliens from chasing them up the stairwell. Without the plasma torch, he’d have to blow the archway he currently stood under.

Salvia used the Force once again to levitate Tano and Larte up the stairs, while Easely and Hooper helped each other. Crespi remained behind, planting thermal detonators on both sides of the entrance to blow it on a command from a detonator. He worked quickly, but efficiently.

In the middle of placing the last detonator, Crespi heard a new sound that caught his attention. A sort of moaning wail. A keening sound that cut through the crackling of flames. 

Crespi poked his head around the corner of the entrance to see multiple aliens had made it into the Queen’s Chamber. Some held fragments of eggs or the crisp remains of the face-hugging creatures that had attacked Dr. Larte. Others looked at where the Queen had once sat, churning out eggs to keep their hive alive.

_ Morning the dead. _ Crespi thought somberly. He found it surprising that a species that was so ruthless was capable of feeling such despair.

Suddenly the keening was replaced by a screech of anger. Crespi saw that one of the aliens had found a puddle of blood on the ground.

_ Tano’s blood! _ Crepsi realized.

A roar went up from all the aliens: a call for revenge against the one that had destroyed their queen. Then their heads all swiveled to stare eyelessly into the passage that Crespi was hunkered down in.

_ They’ve found her scent. _ Crespi thought grimly. He backed away, going up the stairs a bit to clear the blast radius.

The roar from the aliens got louder and louder to the point where Crespi’s helmet’s sound-dampening system had to kick in. The moment he saw an alien appear in the entrance, he hit the detonator switch.

The thermal detonators all lit up momentarily before they went off as one, vaporizing the first alien and collapsing the ceiling on a second. Rubble poured down, both the aliens’ secretions and the walls of the ship itself.

It wouldn’t block them forever, but it would give Crespi and the others enough of a headstart to hopefully reach the turbolift. He turned and ran up the stairs after the others.

* * *

Kowalski was both hunter and hunted at the same time. At the same time as he ran after Massey, he fled from a few aliens that had broken off from the rest to chase him. Whether they wanted Kowalski himself, Massey, or just human blood, Kowalski didn’t know. 

All he knew is that there was something up with the way Massey had just acted. Why the kriff Massey would shoot a fellow stormtrooper was beyond him.

Massey was following the lights that the miners had strung up. Kowalski guessed that Massey was gunning for the turbolift that Hooper had said was on the other side of the mining tunnels, and was following the lights in a guess that they would lead to the lift. That meant that Massey wanted out of this mine as soon as possible, damn everyone else.

Had Massey just snapped? Whatever the reason, Kowalski guessed it had to do with the duffel bag that Massey was carrying. Kowalski hadn’t seen that bag before, but it was clearly filled with something. 

Something that was worth killing a fellow stormtrooper over.

The alien secretions on the walls thinned and then the walls reverted back to the standard altered stone caused by the plasma torches. Kowalski halted momentarily at a corner, sweeping the other path with his eyes to make sure it was clear, and spun to unleash a hail of fire at an alien that had gotten a bit too close.

Accuracy wasn’t too important in the combined quarters of the mining tunnels, so Kowalski flipped his E-11 onto fully automatic and sprayed fire all over the corridor. The alien immediately pursuing him was cut to shreds by the hail of fire.

Some extra space between himself and the pursuing aliens, Kowalski turned back after Massey’s trail. He found the rogue stormtrooper entering the turbolift, with the doors closing.

Massey fired through the closing doors, forcing Kowalski to dive for cover. Kowalski’s return fire pinged off the sides of the turbolift as it began to rise.

Dashing forward, Kowalski pried the turbolift doors open. On the other side of the shaft was a ladder, but Kowalski didn’t have time to climb. He needed to keep up with Massey and determine what he was doing.

He retrieved the grappling hook from his belt and fired it at the bottom of the rising turbolift. It stuck fast and Kowalski fastened the loose end to his armor.

As the turbolift rose, Kowalski was carried with it, keeping pace with the rogue stormtrooper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Writing Ahsoka's rampage against the xenomorphs was fun and I hope it didn't break how I've already built up the xenomorph's special abilities in relation to resistivity to Force attacks. Feel free to let me know what you thought of it in the comments.


	12. Ascent Into Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fractured and harassed on all sides by the relentless alien horde, the struggle for survival becomes even more desperate as past wounds and unexpected enemies threaten to bury the survivors in the Tartarus mining tunnels.

Crespi broke out through the gash in the outer skin of the ship to find less than what he hoped he would find. Kowalski had disappeared, although there were no aliens to greet them or acid burns on the hull. Crespi knew that Kowalski would at least be able to take out a few aliens before being overwhelmed. Kowalski was a good, competent soldier who knew his stuff.

Instead it looked like the stormtrooper had just disappeared into thin air.

The others visibly relaxed seeing Crespi emerge from the stairwell. Easily lowered the rifle he had trained on the opening. “Sir, what was that explosion we heard?”

“I managed to seal off the stairwell from the Queen’s Chamber,” Crespi said. “It should buy us some time but we need to move now. They have Commander Tano’s scent and know she was responsible for the death of their queen. I can only imagine they’ll want revenge for its death.”

Salvia looked up at Crespi. “We can’t move quickly with both Kaeden and Ahsoka unconscious.” She glanced at the thing wrapped around Dr. Larte’s head and shuddered. “I don’t know if we can remove that thing from Kaeden’s face. Ripping it off might do more harm than leaving it on.”

“I don’t leave anyone behind if I can help it,” Crespi said. “You were once a Jedi, and by your current occupation I’d guess that you had some ability with healing?”

Salvia tensed, fear filling her eyes. “I… I can. But Jedi healing can only accelerate the body’s natural healing rate. I won’t be able to mend all her injuries in the time we have, but she’ll be able to limp along with us.”

Hooper saw the fear in Salvia’s eyes as well. “You look afraid. What’s wrong?”

“In order to heal her, I’ll need to bind my presence in the Force to hers. That temporary bond is what allows a healer to kickstart the body’s natural healing process.”

“And? What’s wrong with that?”

Salvia’s voice trembled. “I don’t know if she’ll allow me in. Ahsoka and I parted under… less than ideal circumstances.”

“We don’t have a choice,” Crespi said, shaking his head. “Do what you can.”

* * *

Barriss closed her eyes and slowed her breathing, trying to bring her heart back under control. Fear of what Ahsoka’s reaction to her presence might be constricted like a serpent inside her.

_ When there is no emotion, there is peace. _ Barriss may not have been a Jedi anymore, but the platitude still held firm. Fear would do no good, so she forced it away, feeling the pressure on her heart start to slack. She breathed deeply and calmly, and reached out.

The bacta she had applied to the worst of Ahsoka’s wounds had already started working. Burned skin was soothed and the blood in the lacerations began to clot back together. Barriss rested a hand on Ahsoka’s forehead, probing the walls Ahsoka had erected around her mind. 

In her comatose state, Ahsoka’s defenses were relaxed, allowing Barriss’ gentle probe to slip through into her old friend’s mind. She found the nub she was looking for and used the Force to stimulate it, causing the appropriate glands in Ahsoka’s body to accelerate their work healing the togruta’s wounds.

Barriss shifted her attention from wound to wound. The smaller cuts knitted together leaving small, faint scars on Ahsoka’s skin. Barriss had to pour more Force energy into Ahsoka to deal with the larger wounds. She managed to stop any bleeding, and that was enough. Ahsoka might be sore and scarred when she woke up, but she wouldn’t bleed to death.

As Barriss focused on healing the togruta’s wounds, she could feel Ahsoka’s mental defenses attempt to identify the foreign presence that was inside her mind and body functions. With the sudden flare of anger and rage, Barriss realized that Ahsoka had recognized her and had begun pushing back against Barriss in an attempt to force her out of her mind.

Barriss’ eyes snapped open as she was thrown backwards, slamming into the hull of the alien ship. She looked up to see Ahsoka glaring at her angrily. The togruta yelled. “You! You-”

Crespi cut her off by grabbing her shoulder. “Enough of that Tano. I don’t know what you have against Salvia, but she just healed the worst of your injuries. Whatever bad blood exists between you two, save it for after we get off this forsaken planet.”

Ahsoka glared at him, fury in her eyes. She snarled, not even addressing Barriss. “Just tell  _ Salvia _ to stay away from me and out of my head!”

She whirled quickly and stumbled a bit before regaining her balance, wearily making her way over to check on Kaeden.

Crespi walked over to Barriss, and helped her back to her feet. “What happened between the two of you to cause this?”

“My name isn’t Salvia,” Barriss sighed and looked up into Crespi’s eyes. “I’m… I’m Barriss Offee.”

* * *

Teraan and Rynn scrambled up the tunnel as fast as they could. There was no way of knowing whether Henry’s sacrifice had collapsed the tunnel behind them or whether the aliens had made it through and were storming after them. Plus it was likely that there were other ways for the aliens to get into this tunnel. There had to be an exit after all.

Long minutes of silence passed as they climbed up and up. The only sound was the crunch of boots on silica and Rynn’s heavy breathing. Being a science officer, the twi’lek didn’t have the stamina that the stormtrooper did. But still, Rynn pushed onwards and upwards. Fear was a powerful motivator after all.

The tunnel’s slope began to decrease and they squeezed out of the narrow tube into a chamber. It was about as tall as the mining tunnels, and had two tunnels branching out on each side. 

“Wait a minute…” Teraan said, noticing the bisected corpse of one of the aliens. She moved slowly down one of the branching tunnels, only to run into a cave in. But the blockage was not one of rubble, instead one of glassy, smooth material. “This is where your friend Hooper sealed the entrance to the cavern!”

“You’re right,” Rynn nodded in agreement. “So we only have one way out.”

Teraan nodded back. “Let’s go. If we stay in one place for too long, they’ll find us. And I doubt the two of us would survive long against a horde of those aliens.”

With that, the two took off running back towards the mining tunnels.

* * *

The lift continued to rise up from the depths of the mine, Kowalski hanging onto his grapple underneath it as the minutes dragged on. Pulling himself hand-over-hand, he made it to the bottom of the turbolift car. The flashlight on his weapon revealed a number on the side of the shaft, reading that they had passed the second floor. 

Massey must have heard him, because moments later a blaster bolt punched through the thin floor of the turbolift car next to his face. Another followed and slammed into his shoulder, stunning the stormtrooper and making him lose his hand grip on the bottom of the turbolift car.

Kowalski dropped in freefall for a couple seconds, before his grapple cable pulled taut and caught him. Swaying in the turbolift shaft, suspended over a few thousand feet of darkness, Kowalski regained his wits and looked at his shoulder.

The armor did its job, if the blackened plastoid was any indication. He moved his right arm, and almost screamed at the pain that shot through it.

The turbolift ground to a halt and Kowalski could hear Massey flee out of the opening doors. He looked at the number on the wall and saw a large ‘G’.

They had reached the ground level.

Gritting his teeth, Kowalski pulled himself back up, hand over agonizing hand up towards the turbolift car.

* * *

Milnor Wilcox, RP-462, sat at the edge of the shuttle ramp, E-11 blaster in his lap. It had been a long time since RC-709 and the others had checked in. Too long.

But, he would stay until they came back, or he had no other choice but to leave them behind. Dust-off would only happen if those damn alien bug-things started swarming up at him.

He heard the sound of something running towards him at the same time as a crackle of static came over his comlink. It was somewhat garbled, but being a pilot used to static he thought he made it out. “Wilcox! You there? It’s Kowalski!”

He grit his teeth in annoyance. RP-462 had always been a stickler for protocol, and RT-2756 knew it. The damn idiot always knew how to get under someone’s skin.

“462 here. What do you want 56?”

As he spoke he raised the blaster and aimed it towards the sounds of running he heard. He relaxed when RT-8787 came tearing into sight. At first he was relieved. RT-8787 had been missing for a while looking for the abducted stormtroopers, but then he saw 87’s face.

The former bounty hunter was a mess. Missing his helmet and the white stormtrooper armor was scuffed with dust and debris, scratched with claw marks all over it. His face was a bloody mess, with one side of it seeming to have been burned by acid.

RP-462 ran over to him. “87? what happened to you?”

RT-8787’s only reaction was shoving his blaster into RP-462’s gut and pulling the trigger multiple times. RP-462’s eyes widened in shock and pain as he slumped off the ramp and onto the ground.

RT-2756’s voice came over the comlink again, shouting a warning about RT-8787. RP-462 could not hear it over the sound of the Lambda-class shuttle’s engines warming up, but then again, he couldn’t hear anything anymore. The warning had come just too late.

* * *

Crespi didn’t say anything as Salvia, no… Barriss, confessed her deception. The Mirialan’s skittishness around Commander Tano made sense now, knowing the truth. Hell, Crespi almost punched himself for not making the connection sooner!

Crespi didn’t know what to feel about this new development though. He sympathized with Barriss, of course, it was obvious that she felt terrible about what she had done to Tano and felt guilt over her betrayal.

Crespi and Barriss were alike in that way, they both knew what betrayal felt like.

_ Mylar stood alone in a clearing, lightsaber twirling in a blur. Fear and anger waged a constant battle on her face as she parried and deflected attack after attack from an unseen enemy. _

_ Some strikes slipped past her defenses as she was slowly overwhelmed, catching her in both the arm and the leg. The Cathar cried out in pain, but to her credit stayed on her feet, desperation becoming the only emotion remaining in her eyes. Desperation for survival against impossible odds. _

_ Crespi charged at Mylar, something in the back of his mind telling him to kill. He raced towards her, and she saw him coming. Her eyes filled with recognition and wariness and… hope? _

_ Everything in Crespi screamed to stand down and help her, but a black clawed hand,  _ his _ black clawed hand, swiped at her, tearing across Mylar’s chest and gut. She remained on her feet for a moment, looking at him with confusion, fear, and betrayal in her eyes. She collapsed onto her back and the voice told Crespi to pounce. _

_ He pinned her down, mouth opening as he leaned towards her head. As the silvery inner jaw shot forwards he looked into her eyes one last time. Reflected in those brown orbs was an oblong, chitinous head with no eyes. _

Crespi shook his head, forcing that mini-vision away. Where the kriff had  _ that  _ come from?

He forced it out of mind, slamming shut his mental doors on the image of a bloody hole in the middle of Mylar’s pretty face. Why the hell had he been one of those aliens in that vision?

Crespi had no idea, but he pushed the thought out of mind. What had happened with Mylar was in the past, and dwelling on the past instead of focusing on the present could, and most likely would, spell death for him and the others.

He called for everyone to gear up and move out, before setting off towards the exit from the cavern. They still had a ways to go.

* * *

Rynn and Teraan broke out of the alien tunnel back into the main mining corridor. The tunnel forked, they could either go deeper into the mine, or head back to the lobby of the destroyed elevator.

“If we go down that way,” Rynn said between deep breaths looking warily at the passage leading deeper into the mine, “I’m not sure we’ll ever find our way out.”

Teraan grunted, the exertion of the last few hours beginning to take its toll on the stormtrooper. “There’s nothing the other way though, the elevator’s been destroyed.”

“There’s the stairs.”

Teraan pressed her lips together. It would be difficult to outrun the swarm of aliens up several thousands of feet of stairs. Teraan might have been able to make it given her stormtrooper training and childhood in Alderaan’s alpine regions, but the exhausted science officer Rynn would never make it.

As if reading Teraan’s thoughts, Rynn smiled slightly and offered one sentence. “It’s the best chance we have.”

With that, the Twi’lek disappeared through the opening to the emergency stairwell, beginning the impossible ascent up to the surface.

* * *

It was too quiet as the remaining group advanced along the trail blazed by the ill-fated miners weeks prior. Ahoska shifted Kaeden’s body to a more comfortable position on her shoulder. Sure, she could just levitate the doctor with the Force, but using the Force like that would simply make the beacon she already was even brighter to the aliens that still hounded them.

Barriss had taken point with Crespi. The traitor bitch seemed more confident now, something that made Ahsoka’s blood burn with anger. Some part of her had enjoyed seeing her cower in fear of what Ahsoka might do to her, but now that Ahsoka was little more than dead weight the Mirialan had stepped up to fill her place.

Ahsoka didn’t know what to feel about the fact that Barriss had risked attempting to heal her injuries. To be honest, if the roles had been reversed, Ahsoka might have just left her behind to die a diversion. It was cold, but it was pretty much what Barriss had done to her nearly two decades ago.

Could it be that Barriss actually felt remorse for what she had done and wanted to make amends? And if that were the case, could Ahsoka actually forgive her for what she had done?

The group made turn after turn, following the guidance of Hoop who was by now the most knowledgeable of the group on the layout of the mine. After several intense minutes of silence that seemed to drag on for forever compared to the action they had just left, the turbolift lobby finally came into sight.

Crespi called a halt and moved forward slowly on his own. “Tano! Offee! Can you sense any of them nearby?” He whispered harshly.

“No,” Ahsoka said.

Barriss nodded in agreement. “They seem to be concealing themselves. Repressing their emotions and feelings… almost like a Jedi would.”

Crespi made it safely to the control panel and called the turbolift down. The minutes felt like days as they ticked by waiting for the turbolift to grind its way slowly down thousands of vertical feet.

Ahsoka leaned Kaeden’s inert form against the turbolift bulkhead, and then collapsed down next to her, her limbs and feeling drained from the exertion of the day. Closing her eyes, Ahsoka meditated briefly while maintaining the shroud of obscuration that both she and Barriss threw up in an attempt to block themselves from the aliens.

Finally, the turbolift dinged as it came to a halt on the bottom floor. Ahsoka slung Kaeden around her shoulders as she got to her feet. The door opened and the Force screamed in alarm from all sides.

Ahsoka dove to the side as an alien lunged out of the turbolift at her. 

Crespi shouted, “Ambush!” as aliens swarmed the turbolift lobby. The old clone put a burst into the alien that had come out of the elevator, dropping it, before turning on his heel and firing a stream of plasma at the swarming aliens.

Hoop cleared the turbolift, a gaping hole in the roof showing where the alien had come from. Ahsoka pulled Kaeden inside and then grabbed Crespi with the Force to yank him back into the turbolift car. Barriss did the same for Easely, who flew inside right as the turbolift doors began to close.

The aliens pounded along the sides of the turbolift, searching for a way to get in. “Fourth floor!” Hoop yelled over the din. In the chaos, no one had bothered to hit a destination on the control panel.

Easely reacted instinctively, lunging for the button as spindly fingers appeared in the small gap between the turbolift doors. The claws pried it open with superhuman strength and the soulless black head leered at them through the opening.

The spindly hands latched onto Easely and pulled, yanking him through the gap.

Crespi and Ahsoka managed to grab the stormtrooper’s legs that kicked and jerked wildly. Easely’s screams mixed with the shrieks into a noise that pierced through Ahsoka’s montrals directly into her brain.

Hoop also grabbed Easely’s legs as the lift began to slowly rise, Easely’s chest preventing the doors from closing fully. No matter how hard they pulled, the aliens pulled just as hard, trying to claim their prize of another human killed.

Easely’s screams reached a crescendo as the lift began to pass the ceiling of Floor 9, the rock walls slowly crushing the pinned stormtrooper. Then with a crunch, Easely’s screams ceased. His legs jerked once and then went limp as the moving turbolift sheared him apart at the waist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My sincerest apologies for taking so long to get this chapter up. I've had an incredibly busy semester and writing hasn't really been on my mind most of the time here at college. I hope it doesn't take as long to get the next part up.
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed this long overdue chapter though! As always, feel free to comment on anything you noticed or feel that I could improve on.


	13. No Rest for the Weary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At long last, the Charon Station survivors have reached their original objective: the power cell storage on Level 4; while Teraan and Rynn continue their desperate climb for survival. However, the everpresent aliens have other ideas...
> 
> All the while, Kowalski attempts to stop a traitor from escaping the Erebos System.

There were no other sounds in the turbolift as it slowly glided the few thousand feet up to Level 4 of the mine. Easely’s mangled lower body lay in the corner, red blood still leaking out to soak the floor of the lift.

Ahsoka leaned against the wall, Kaeden’s motionless body cradled in her arms. The adrenaline had long since worn off and Ahsoka barely had the energy left to examine her other lightsaber. It was inoperable, having been hit by acid when she had thrown herself headlong into the alien horde. It was a miracle that she had survived. There were stories of Jedi who were able to use the Force to wrap themselves in a protective barrier. Had she unknowingly summoned such a barrier to repel the acid blood?

What she had done was a stupid action that could have killed her, but in that moment Ahsoka hadn’t cared. She had been consumed by a surge of rage and… hatred. It was something she had never felt before and it scared her by how good that rush of power had felt. It bordered on what her old masters had said how the Dark Side felt like. It was not the Jedi way to act using such emotions.

_ But you’re not a Jedi anymore, so why should you care? _

A whisper floated up into her mind from the place she had seized that surge of power. She shrugged the voice aside, but knowing that it had come from within chilled her to the bone. That power was lurking deep inside her, waiting to be unleashed like it had been against the aliens.

She needed to focus on something else, before her unease and fear dragged her down completely. Ahsoka looked around the turbolift car, averting her gaze from Easely’s severed legs. Barriss sat in a corner, eyes closed in meditation. Hooper sat next to her, looking through a blood-stained datapad that he had taken from Easely’s belt. He passed it to her, asking if she could make anything out of the audio that Easely had managed to download from the alien computer.

It was like nothing she had ever heard, a gravelly, raspy voice speaking in a language that Ahsoka had no chance of comprehending. If she had to guess though, the speaker sounded almost frantic. It was as if the message was an emergency distress call… or a warning.

Maybe Bail’s protocol droid C-3P0 could make sense of it. The droid was always yapping on about how he knew six million forms of communication, after all. Of course she’d have to ask Crespi seeing how it was an Imperial datapad. But speaking of Crespi…

The old clone sat motionless, staring at the corpse of yet another of his stormtroopers. He hadn’t said a word since Easely died, nor did he speak when the lift finally made it to Level 4.

Crespi did nothing but stand silently and walk out, blaster raised for any danger.

* * *

The muscles in Teraan’s legs screamed in pain as the stormtrooper mounted stair after agonizing stair. They had made it up several levels, passing Level 6 a while ago. The minutes continued to drag on as Teraan forced her body to keep putting one foot in front of the other, and finally the landing for Level 5 came into view.

A wheeze came from behind her as she reached the landing. Teraan turned to look into the pale, exhausted face of Aola Rynn. The Twi’lek science officer was suffering from the climb, and panted as she spoke in between deep, shaky breaths. “Teraan… I need to rest… just for a minute. Please.”

Teraan sighed, but nodded, slumping against the wall herself as her legs cried out in momentary relief. She unhooked a canteen from her belt and took a swig, the cool water pouring down her dry, dusty throat felt unbelievably pleasant, and she let out a sigh as her head leaned against the wall, eyes closed in momentary rest. Ever since she, Pulaski, and Massey had rendezvoused with Crespi and the others, Teraan hadn’t had a chance to take a break.

She handed the canteen over to Rynn, who gulped down the water eagerly. The Twi’lek was obviously not used to sustained physical endurance, unlike the toned Alderaanian stormtrooper. Teraan smiled as she remembered her teenage days. While other girls would be practising courtly activities and learning how to proper, noble ladies, Teraan was often found exploring the grounds of her family’s mountain estate.

No, courtly life was not for her. Her parents had frowned upon her shenanigans, but Teraan’s uncle would always be there to supervise and explore with her. He taught her how to shoot a blaster and the two of them would go out hunting from time to time. He had been the one who supported her decision to join the Imperial Academy, telling her to listen to her gut and follow her heart.

“Do you think we’ll make it out?” Rynn croaked through heaving breaths, her eyes stained with tears.

Teraan was silent as she considered an answer. She remembered what her mother had told her when Teraan had informed her of her decision to attend the Imperial Academy.  _ ‘If you go into space, you’ll die there.’ _

Ever since the dropship had crashed on this planet, Teraan had realized that her mother’s warning was more and more likely to be true.

She decided to be truthful. “In all honesty, I doubt it. But I’d rather die knowing I fought and did my best to live.”

It was Rynn’s turn to be silent as she wiped her eyes. Finally, the twi’lek asked. “Do you regret anything?”

Teraan thought that over for a minute. The thought of becoming alien chow…  _ or worse _ definitely did not appeal to her, but Teraan could never imagine herself back on Alderaan in a political marriage. She wouldn’t swap her life for that one, ever. “No, I don’t. I’ve lived the life I wanted. You?”

Rynn blushed a bit. “I regret not making a move on Hoop when I could have. We’re close, but I was always too scared to go for something… more.”

Teraan smiled as she pushed herself up to her sore feet. “Well with any luck, we’ll get out of here and he’ll have survived as well.” She held out a hand to help the twi’lek to her feet. “Come on.”

* * *

It didn’t take long for Hoop to locate the storeroom on Level 4 that contained the spare power cores for the mining dropships. The room had been left alone by the aliens, and sets of power cores lay in pristine condition on shelves.

Finding the one he wanted, Hoop went to work examining the power cell. “Yes, two of these should do the trick. They’ll keep life support on the dropship running for at least a week or two.” He turned to Ahsoka. “Long enough for your allies to show up, Fulcrum.”

He grabbed a grav-cart from a corner of the storage room and moved it over to load the power cells. Ahsoka helped him, picking up the power cores.

“Careful!” Hoop whispered harshly. They hadn’t seen any of the aliens on this level yet, but that didn’t mean that there weren’t any of them within hearing range. “These things can be highly volatile if they get jarred too much.”

“How bad would the damage be?” Crespi’s voice came from outside the storage room, the first time he had spoken since Easely had died. His voice sounded hollow, even through the modulation of his helmet.

“Extremely high-temperature explosion, similar to a low-yield thermobaric weapon.” Hoop answered. “I’ve seen one of these things explode before, not something I’d want to be within a few klicks of.”

“Can it be rigged to explode on a timer?” Crespi asked, poking his head around the corner into the storage chamber.

“I think so, yes.” Hoop said as he got the idea.

Ahsoka chimed in as well. “Rig it to explode after we get out of here and destroy the remaining aliens?”

Crespi nodded and Hoop immediately turned his attention to the other power cells on the shelves. “Give me a few minutes and I can get it set up. How long of a timer?”

Crespi and Ahsoka looked at each other. “Two hours should be sufficient to escape from this rock,” Ahsoka said back to Hoop.

“Done,” the mechanic replied as he got to work, prying open the cases of power cores and splicing wires together.

Crespi reached for his comlink suddenly, his voice muffled as he spoke to Barriss, who had remained in the turbolift with Kaeden. His head snapped over to look at Ahsoka, and he said two words.

“Kaeden’s awake.”

* * *

Ahsoka ran through the winding tunnels to get back to the turbolift. Kaeden was awake, but what did that mean? Did the thing let go? Had Barriss managed to remove it?

Was Kaeden going to be ok?

Questions raced through her head almost as fast as she dashed into the turbolift lobby. Kaeden was sitting in the lift, leaning against one of the walls, greedily drinking from a canteen Barriss had given her.

The crab-thing that had been wrapped around her face for the last few hours had fallen off and was curled up dead on the floor. Kaeden was staring at it in between gulps, a grim look on her face, but turned her head at the sound of Ahsoka’s approach.

“Kaeden!” Ahsoka said, a big smile on her face as she ran towards her friend, enveloping her in a hug. “You’re okay.”

Kaeden stiffened in Ahsoka’s embrace, causing confusion to spread through the togruta. Was she doing something wrong? A muffled sob escaped Kaeden’s mouth, and she pushed Ahsoka away.

Kaeden looked up at Ahsoka, tears in her eyes as she glanced at the crab-thing again. “Ahsoka…” Kaeden barely choked the words out. “It’s inside me.”

* * *

Teraan gritted her teeth as the trudged up the final stairs leading to the Level 4 landing. So close, and yet so far left to go. On her own, Teraan would likely be much further up the stairwell by now, but she had slowed her pace considerably to help Rynn up the countless stairs. The Twi’lek’s breath was shaky and her face was pale, but she hadn’t slipped or fallen once.

It was ironic that the moment that thought crossed Teraan’s mind, her right foot lost traction on the landing and she fell forward. Putting her hands in front of her to break her fall, one fell on dusty ferrocrete, but the other landed in a damp patch of viscous liquid. Teraan took one look at the goop dripping from her glove and immediately sprang into a silent crouch, blaster up and ready.

“Terann, wha-?” Rynn started to speak, but Teraan quickly clamped her dry hand over the Twi’lek’s mouth.

She whispered low and harshly. “One of them was through here recently. Don’t make a sound.”

Rynn’s eyes widened in fear, and Teraan removed her hand. They remained there, motionless, listening for something. Anything that would reveal what Teraan feared.

Sure enough, they could hear a low hiss from up the stairs. At least one of the aliens had bypassed them and was lying in wait to ambush them from above. The aliens had the advantage. Teraan didn’t know how many there were or even where they were in the stairwell. She had so far decided to keep climbing the stairs instead of diverting to the other turbolift because the stairwell was relatively safe. But now that plan was shot.

Teraan locked eyes with Rynn and silently motioned towards the door to Level 4 with her head. Rynn nodded and the two started backing up as quietly as they could.

There was a scuttle of claws on ferrocrete and Teraan realized that it knew its ambush had failed. “RUN!”

The two women dashed back through the entrance to the mining level, pulling the emergency bulkhead in an attempt to close it before the alien reached them. Weak with exhaustion and fatigue, both struggled against the heavy doors as they slowly slid towards each other.  _ Too slowly. _

Teraan released an almost primal roar as her adrenaline spiked. A surge of strength finally pulled and pushed her bulkhead into place, but spindly claws wrapped around the edge and an oblong, eyeless head poked through the narrowing gap. Teraan immediately jammed her E-11 blaster into its mouth and jerked the trigger over and over, screaming in rage as she did.

Each blast punched through the back of the alien’s skull spraying the ‘4’ on the opposite with yellow acid. Acid foamed in its mouth as well, melting through the E-11’s barrel. Teraan shoved the now-useless blaster and the lifeless alien fell backwards as Rynn finally shut her bulkhead with a clang.

* * *

Kaeden’s words had dropped a bombshell, and the turbolift ride back to the ground floor was spent in complete silence. Kaeden sat alone in a corner, her choice, and stared silently at the floor. The mangled remains of Easely lay across from her, while the other few survivors lingered against the opposite wall.

Kaeden had no doubt about what she was now carrying inside of her. She had seen what happened to the rest of Crespi’s squad, the ones that had been carried away. She had seen the dead spiders around them, smaller than the one that had fallen off her, but the same nonetheless. She had seen the holes in the chests of the stormtroopers, and seen the alien come out of the last one alive.

The aliens used the spiders to implant an embryo, an alien child, inside of another living host. Kaeden almost laughed at the irony of her situation. She would have loved to study the lifecycle of these creatures more, yet in a few hours she would be killed by the alien gestating inside of her gut.

She raised her head, looking at the survivors opposite her. Hoop met her gaze from his position next to the grav-cart and gave her a slight smile of encouragement. Salvia sat in a calm meditative position, eyes closed. Crespi was standing, staring directly at her through his helmet. His blaster was in a rest position, but angled in such a way that it would be quick and easy to shoot her should the alien start its birth procedure. She didn’t blame him, she’d likely be doing the same if the conditions had been reversed.

Ahsoka sat against the wall. Her head lay against her knees, which she had wrapped close in her arms. Kaeden didn’t think she had ever seen Ahsoka look so small and… defeated. Not even when Kaeden had all but ordered her to flee Raada and leave her behind.

She knew why. Kaeden was all but dead at this point. She couldn’t think of any way to reverse what was bound to happen.

The minutes dragged on as the lift slowly ground its way up to the ground level. Kaeden kept expecting to feel the pain of her torso being torn open from the inside, but all she felt was a throat drier than the wastelands outside and a good pang of hunger.

The turbolift doors slid open to reveal no aliens, but only the Charon Station dropship sitting on the loading dock. 

“What the kriff?” Crespi said in both confusion and shock as he rushed out of the turbolift. The crumpled body of the pilot, Wilcox, lay on the ground, blaster wounds in his stomach.

Salvia checked his pulse, but shook her head. “Dead, but the body’s warm. Couldn’t have happened more than an hour or two ago.”

Crespi nodded, then pointed at his wounds. “Not an alien either. Unless they somehow managed to figure out how to use blasters and fly a shuttle.”

“Who could have done this?” Salvia asked.

Ahsoka and Hoop had already moved off to install the new power cores into the mining dropship, when Crespi reached up to his comlink, then immediately turned it onto speaker. Kowalski’s distorted, staticky voice filled the loading dock.

_ “Damnit sir. Please respond!” _

“I read you. What’s your status? Where are you?”

_ “In the landing gear bay of the shuttle. Massey’s stolen it!” _

An air of confusion rippled through the survivors. “What do you mean he’s stolen it?” Crespi asked.

_ “I intercepted a transmission sir, from Massey to some kind of drone ship or something. He intends to dock with it and then blow up the shuttle. Sir… I think Massey’s trying to escape with an alien specimen.” _

* * *

“Yes sir. I’ll try.” Kowalski shut off his comlink and flipped on a small plasma torch that he had grabbed from a dead miner. He had carried it as a last resort weapon should his blaster fail, but now it was all he had to get out of his current position.

Kowalski had leaped into the landing gear as Massey was rising out of the loading dock. He had to keep up with the rogue stormtrooper somehow, and this was the only option he had left. It didn’t take long for him to cut a hole in the landing gear doors large enough for him to slip through.

The pressure seals in his stormtrooper armor activated and Kowalski engaged his mag-boots, standing on the outside of the shuttle. Kowalski slowly, but carefully, maneuvered his way to the underside of the Lambda-class shuttle and spied his target: the communications grid. Kowalski blazed away with his blaster, burning hole after hole into the comm grid until the system was a mess of charred, arcing wires.

Kowalski grinned to himself. Without the communications grid, Massey wouldn’t be able to transmit his location to his drone ship. He was stuck with Kowalski.

It was then that he noticed Massey had changed course. The shuttle was now heading directly to Charon Station.

* * *

“Well that exit plan is shot,” Teraan said, kicking the closed bulkheads in frustration. “Now what?”

Rynn’s face suddenly brightened. “Well one piece of good news is that we’re on Level 4.”

Teraan turned to her, confusion obviously on her face. “What’s so special about that?”

“Our initial plan was to find the power cells located on this floor to repair the mining dropship we came down in. If the others survived, they’d probably be headed there.”

“And we can meet up with them!” Teraan said, snapping her fingers together. She then unholstered her sidearm, given how her rifle had been all but destroyed by acid. “Lead the way.”

Rynn and Teraan took off, moving quickly as silently as they could. One of the aliens had gotten above them in the stairwell, so it was possible and even likely that there would be some on this level. But as they advanced through the corridor, all they passed was the occasional body of a miner that had been killed long ago.

As the minutes passed, and the two took turn after turn, Rynn finally slowed to a stop next to a closet. “This is it.” She pulled the door open, Teraan covering her with her blaster.

No one was inside.

Rynn’s eyes widened in horror. “No.”

“What’s wrong?” Teraan asked, a sinking feeling filling her gut.

“They’ve already made it and left.” Rynn said. “And they rigged the power cores to explode in… 90 minutes!”

“Of all the kriffing luck!” Teraan squeezed her eyes shut, shaking off the blind fury at their predicament with a violent jerk of her head. “We can’t give up now! We need to keep going up!”

Rynn nodded. “To the turbolift then. The other one should still be working.”

They took off, a new sense of urgency filling them. A few more minutes ticked by, but as they neared the turbolift corridor, Teraan heard something that made her stop on a credit. The scritch and scratch of claws on ferrocrete came from the turbolift shaft.

A pounding began from the other side of the doors, and they buckled a little as black claws pried them apart. Through the gap, Teraan saw dozens of the aliens scrambling up the turbolift shaft headed up towards the surface. A good few poured through the open doors, bearing down on Teraan and Rynn.

Teraan opened fire with her blaster at the horde as she began to backpedal. “Back the way we came!”

* * *

All communications with Kowalski were lost in a haze of static. Either he had been killed, or he had succeeded in crippling the communications suite on the shuttle. Both would explain his silence… the only way his comlink had reached the surface was because Kowalski had tapped into the comms on the shuttle.

Ahsoka and Hoop were making good progress, already hardwiring up one of the power cores into the dropship and beginning work on the second.

Barriss remained in her meditative pose as they worked, furiously searching her memories of her time as a Jedi healer for anything that might help Kaeden survive. As of now, the only thing that Barriss could think of was to go into a Jedi trance, which would hopefully slow down Kaeden’s body functions enough to prevent the alien from birthing. However, Kaeden was not a Jedi and it was, to the best of Barriss’ knowledge, impossible to put a non-force sensitive into a Jedi trance.

Suddenly a wave of emotions crashed over Barriss, and she knew that Ahsoka had felt it as well. Barriss snapped to attention, pulling out the blaster that Crespi had given her a while ago.

She turned to the working turbolift and heard metal being torn apart. Waves of rage, hatred, and vengeance flowed over her.

Barris yelled, taking cover behind a few crates. “They’re coming!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas everyone! Regardless of what religion or creed you follow, I hope all of you have a great day today!
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. As always, feel free to comment on anything you noticed in my writing. And if you love my writing and know someone else who would, please feel free to spread the word. :)


	14. That Which Lies Within

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trapped thousands of feet below the surface with aliens on all sides, Teraan and Rynn have no escape left but a desperate climb through the alien tunnels. Above, the other survivors launch a desperate last stand against the final attack of the alien horde. Painful memories surface, gambits are launched, and choices are made, for better or for worse.
> 
> All the while, Kowalski continues his pursuit of the rogue stormtrooper Massey, bringing him to the ghostly remains of Charon Station.

Teraan and Rynn ran for their lives, occasionally firing wildly over their shoulder at the horde of aliens running behind them. One of them dropped dead from a lucky shot, but there were still too many to fight. They didn’t know where to go, hopefully through the bulkhead and up the stairwell, but chances were high the aliens were on that side as well.

The thought crossed Teraan’s mind that they were well and truly kriffed. Aliens on one side, a closed heavy bulkhead on the other, and going down side tunnels would only delay the inevitable. Teraan’s strength started to ebb, and she saw that Rynn was on the brink of complete exhaustion.

The Twi’lek stumbled, falling into Teraan and knocking her into the wall, both women falling to the ground. Teraan groped her hand along the wall, trying to pull herself up to her feet, but her hand passed through shadow into a thin, narrow passage.

Another one of the weird silica tunnels dug into the rock. Hidden by shadow, they would have run past it completely had Rynn not tripped.

Strength filled Teraan once more as her adrenaline spiked into overdrive. She turned her head, just in time to hear Rynn scream. An alien had pounced and wrapped chitinous black arms around the helpless Twi’lek. Rynn thrashed wildly from side to side, trying to free herself, but it was useless.

The alien began to retreat, taking it’s unwilling prey with it. Chances were high that it was taking her to one of those breeding chambers they had stumbled upon in the ancient city. Or maybe the beast just wanted to turn her into food for itself and the other aliens.

Whatever the reason, Teraan raised her sidearm. She fired once, and Rynn’s screams cut off with the whine of the blaster. Her body fell limp in the alien’s hands, smoke rising from a charred hole in her head, and it dropped her corpse.

_ If you go into space, you’ll die there. _ The words of Teraan’s mother again surfaced in her brain, but she shook them off with a single, sad glance at Rynn’s lifeless body. Better to be dead than captured by these things.

Teraan launched herself up the alien tunnel, clambering over the silica hand over hand, foot over foot, in a mad scramble to escape the bugs. No grenades left to seal it behind her, she fired a couple times behind her. Maybe the aliens would pause from the fire? Maybe she’d get lucky and collapse the tunnel with a stray blast?

Up above her, she saw a pinprick of light. Escape!

She quickened her pace, scuttling up the steep slope like a crab hoping that she’d be faster than the aliens below.

No such luck.

A black, chitinous claw wrapped around her ankle and pulled. She screamed, firing blindly behind her, the blaster bolts hitting nothing except the silica roof of the tunnel, leaving cracks and fractures in the material. As the eyeless oblong head pulled itself out of the darkness to loom over her in the small tunnel, she kicked wildly, trying to keep it away, but her efforts were futile.

She stared into the face of the void, knowing her time had finally come. Tears glistened in her eyes as she raised her blaster to her temple. “I’m sorry…”

There was the boom of an explosion. The tunnel shook violently, and rock and fractured silica rained down on both human and alien.

* * *

The first oblong head that came out of the rent turbolift flooring was drilled with precise blasterfire from Crespi. The old clone was still as much a marksman as ever. It fell down, only to be replaced with more of the obsidian demons. Crespi picked off the ones he could, but there were too many targets flooding out of the turbolift shaft.

Tano had picked up Wilcox’s blaster, the dead pilot obviously wouldn’t be using it anymore. She, Hooper, and Offee all opened fire at the turbolift they had just come out of, some of the aliens fell dead, but more and more kept charging over the shattered corpses of their fellow creatures.

Crespi stood out in the open. Cover wouldn’t do any good against the aliens, all they could hope to do was cut them down before they got within striking range. Tano and Offee grabbed some of the mining crates and recovered stone scattered around the loading dock and used them as ranged clubs, throwing them into some of the aliens and crushing others.

But there were just too many for the four of them.

Tano shouted a warning to Crespi, and he whirled to see several aliens emerging from the second turbolift shaft, the one whose turbolift had malfunctioned and crashed to the bottom of the mine. He opened fire, downing one of them. Tano smashed a second with a flurry of stone thrown with the Force, crushing the creature against the wall in a spray of acid blood that melted the crate and part of the durasteel wall.

But one of them made it through and launched itself at Crespi. He backpedalled away, and the beast slammed into him. They fell back to the ground and Crespi looked up through his visor at the demon. Reflected in that eyeless, expressionless face was his helmet. Not his stormtrooper helmet though, he saw a Phase II clone helmet, and the firewalls around his mind came crashing down as the memory flooded his vision.

* * *

_ Crespi recognized his surroundings. A forward operating base that he and Mylar had set up just outside of striking range of the Separatists. Some nameless jungle world in the Outer Rim that had been used by the Separatists as a supply and repair depot for the sector. His and Mylar’s legion had made landfall on the planet under a hail of anti-aircraft fire, and they had decided to split their forces. _

_ While the main legion would assault the Separatist base from the front, Crespi and Mylar’s detachment had covertly maneuvered into a flanking position to hit the droids’ rear, hopefully ending the battle quickly and. The attack was due to launch at first light, so most of the troops spent their evening checking weapons and armor. _

_ Mylar was in an exceptionally good mood. News had come in from Coruscant that Count Dooku, the leader of the Separatists, had been killed in the attack on Coruscant by the Hero with No Fear, Anakin Skywalker. Without Dooku, they both knew that the Confederacy was doomed. He was to the CIS what Palpatine was to the Republic. The cornerstone that kept them together. Grievous may have been a great military commander, but he would never be able to control the squabbling of the other powers behind the CIS. _

_ Plus, Mylar had just learned that Grievous had been located and that General Kenobi had been sent to defeat him. Soon the Clone Wars would be over, and they could live in peace once more. _

_ Crespi had never known peace. Being a clone, he was bred for one thing: war. But he knew Mylar had lived in peace, and they were excited to live in that peace together. Jedi were not supposed to form attachments, but the bond the two had formed in battle had blossomed into something more. _

_ Mylar had gone to check the sensors. Crespi was alone in the mobile command center with Deadshot, one of the platoon commanders. The comm station pinged with a message. Crespi looked at it and his eyes widened in surprise. It had come straight from the top, the Office of the Supreme Chancellor. _

_ “Commander Crespi,” Supreme Chancellor Palpatine himself appeared in holo, his face shrivelled, scarred, and deformed. “The Jedi have betrayed the Republic and attempted to assassinate me. Execute Order 66.” _

_ With that, Palpatine’s visage disappeared, leaving nothing but a shocked and confused Crespi. The Jedi had betrayed the Republic? _

_ It didn’t make sense. Mylar had struggled, bled, and nearly given her life for his fellow clones multiple times. He voiced his concerns to Deadshot. _

_ “It was a lawful order, sir,” was Deadshot’s reply. “We have to trust that what the Supreme Chancellor says is correct.” _

_ He made a point. Crespi and all clones had been instilled from their creation with the discipline to follow any lawful order made by a superior officer. And in this case, it had come from the Commander-in-Chief himself. In this case, Order 66, the contingency order for the clones to kill their Jedi leaders should they go rogue or fall to the dark side. _

_ “Deadshot,” Crespi asked hesitantly. The other clone was one of the most competent soldiers Crespi had ever worked with. Crespi valued his input almost as much as he did Mylar’s. “Do you believe it’s possible that this might be a Separatist trick?” _

_ Deadshot was silent for a moment as he scanned over the comm data. “I doubt it, Commander. The message came from Coruscant with the correct encryption codes.” _

_ Crespi’s hope deflated. What in the name of the Force had gone on back on Coruscant? Had the Jedi really betrayed the Republic? Did Mylar know of a conspiracy? And why would the Jedi try such a thing at the end of the Clone Wars? _

_ “Sir,” Deadshot asked, “your orders?” _

_ “Right,” Crespi said, swallowing down the lump in his throat. “We detain the General until we can verify the Supreme Chancellor’s orders. Let’s move.” _

_ Crespi and Deadshot’s squad moved through the camp, headed for the perimeter sensors where Mylar had said she would be standing watch. As they got close, blaster fire rang through the air and they broke into a run. _

_ Reaching the perimeter sensors, Mylar stood surrounded by clones, blue lightsaber flashing through the air deflecting blaster bolts away from her. Her eyes were wild, locked into a scared, but determined look. Clones fell, victims of their redirected blasters or off the arcing blue blade. _

_ Crespi didn’t know what to think. He wanted to believe that Mylar was innocent, but here she was killing her own men. His brothers.  _

_ Blaster fire was redirected towards them and Deadshot took a shot to the gut. Something inside Crespi snapped. _

_ Mylar turned and locked eyes with Crespi through his helmet visor. She faltered momentarily, and Crespi shot once. One shot. One was all it took. The plasma burned into her chest, and she looked down at the wound, then up at him in shock before falling onto her back. _

_ As Crespi approached, she looked up at him in the silence, shock, remorse, and betrayal in her eyes. “Crespi… why?” was all she said as she breathed her last. _

_ And in those haunted, shocked eyes, his own helmet stared back at him. _

* * *

Ahsoka ran towards Crespi, when suddenly a scream of pure anger, rage, and, as she felt through the Force, self-hatred tore out of his mouth. The old clone brought his fist up, smashing it into the side of the alien’s head, stunning it momentarily. He followed it up with a kick out, throwing the creature off of him completely. The old clone then brought up his blaster and fired repeatedly into the alien’s head, reducing it to a bleeding stump.

Ahsoka didn’t know what to make of the clone’s outburst. She had heard of moments where humans would display extraordinary strength when faced with certain death, but she doubted that based on the self-hate Crespi’s presence was giving off through the Force.

Regardless, that was a question to be answered later. Her, Crespi, Barriss, and Hoop were cutting down as many aliens as they could, but there were just too many that were coming, and likely dozens more still making the several thousand foot climb up the shafts.

Wait… where was Kaeden?

Ahsoka’s heart leaped into her throat as she quickly and frantically scanned for Kaeden’s presence through the Force. There!

Kaeden was still alive at least, and still on this level. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kaeden walk out of some closet with what looked like mining charges in hand and slung over her shoulder.

But what happened next filled Ahsoka with shock and alarm.

Kaeden walked calmly, straight towards the horde of aliens coming from the near turbolift shaft. One of them spotted her and charged, claws raised high, ready to slash and kill.

* * *

Kaeden had recognized immediately that the only way they would ever survive would be to seal of the turbolift shafts. Otherwise the aliens would just keep coming until they were overwhelmed. Being a medic, Kaeden was almost useless with a blaster. Sure she had managed to shoot one of the aliens down in the alien ship, but that was all luck. She doubted she’d be much help there.

And then there was the matter of the alien growing inside her. Kaeden didn’t know how long she had until it burst its way out from her chest, but she decided that she was dead no matter what. And if she had to die, Kaeden would go out on her terms, doing what she could to help her friends survive.

And the only way for them to survive was to seal off the mine shafts.

Kaeden had spotted a storage closet full of mining charges before the excursion into the mines. While the others had opened up with blasters, she had run for the storage, grabbing as many of the charges that she could carry before exiting and turning towards the turbolifts.

She saw too many aliens to count, but she had to cut them off, whatever the cost. There wasn’t any hope of sneaking past them, Kaeden would have to march straight through the horde. Chances of survival were close to zero, but it would be her choice. However…

A thought struck Kaeden and she looked down at her chest, then back up at the aliens. Would they…?

Only one way to find out.

Kaeden set off towards the near turbolift, walking at a brisk, but steady and confident pace. She passed the others, who seemed shocked at her actions. Kaeden kept on going straight towards her target as an alien approached her, rearing up in preparation for an attack.

Kaeden stopped and held her ground, staring down the alien in defiance, hoping that her hunch would be proven correct.

The alien skidded to a stop before Kaeden, as if it was confused. It almost seemed to sniff her… as if it was analyzing her. Kaeden held her breath, awaiting the alien’s next action.

It backed off.

Kaeden resumed her march, a smile appearing on her face. She had guessed correctly! The aliens would not harm someone carrying one of their own.

None of the other aliens paid her any attention whatsoever as she made it to the first turbolift. Kaeden guessed they had some form of non-vocal communication, perhaps through pheromones. Regardless, she began laying the mining charges in the turbolift shaft. The smell of the aliens wafted up from below, and she saw shapes moving in the dark up towards her. A second wave, so to say.

Retreating to a safe distance, Kaeden hit the detonator and the shaft exploded. Ferrocrete and durasteel tumbled down the shaft, raining down against the upcoming aliens, knocking them loose into freefall and crushing them all under several tons of stone.

One shaft had been sealed. One down, one to go.

* * *

Teraan shot back to consciousness with a cough, trying to expel the dust that coated the inside of her mouth. She tried to push herself up, feeling rock sliding off her armored chest. It was then that the pain hit her. 

As she tried to push herself up off her back, she finally got a good look at her ankle. It had been crushed and pinned under a falling rock. Right next to it lay the shattered corpse of the alien. Somehow, the alien’s blood hadn’t fallen on her or else she would have suffered far worse than a busted ankle.

She managed to pry the rock off her ankle with her other foot. How that was her only injury, besides a busted, bloody nose, was impossible to comprehend. By all logic, she should have been crushed alongside the alien.

Not that Teraan was complaining. Now she could finally continue her climb without having to worry about the aliens behind her.

However, the half-collapse of the tunnel had narrowed it considerably. Even with her lithe form, her armor prevented her from getting far. She would have to leave it behind. Precious minutes passed as she squirmed out of her plastoid chestplate.

The rest of the climb was slow going, squeezing in between rocks, dragging her useless ankle behind her. But she had to escape before the power cells below her detonated. Time dragged on and on as she got closer and closer to the opening above.

Finally, Teraan broke free of the narrow tunnel, finding herself in one of the turbolift shafts. There was nothing above her but the ceiling of the loading dock. She was close. So close!

There was no way up but a ladder that clung precariously to the cracked ferrocrete. Somehow it had been blown apart above her. It was her only chance, so gritting her teeth, the crippled stormtrooper grabbed hold and began pulling herself up hand over hand along the swaying emergency ladder.

* * *

Kowalski clung to the side of the shuttle as it neared the desolate ruins of Charon Station, passing through the maw of a shuttle bay. As the shuttle settled in to land, Kowalski readied his blaster. The Lambda-class shuttle didn’t have a side airlock, meaning that Massey would have to exit the boarding ramp along the underside and run and climb up to the airlock leading to the rest of the station.

All Kowalski needed was a lucky shot to disable Massey, secure him, and then find a working comm array to contact the Captain for evac. Simple.

For a long minute, nothing happened. Kowalski didn’t see Massey emerge from underneath the nose of the shuttle. The only thing he could hear was the hiss of pressure slowly bleeding out of the shuttle to equalize it with the vacuum of the shuttle bay. Suddenly an object floated up in the zero-G. Flashbang!

Kowalski turned his head away sharply from the blinding light. Blaster bolts flew up at him, one glancing off his chestplate and sending the stormtrooper flying off the top of the shuttle in a spin. Regaining his bearings, and shaking off the daze the blaster shot had caused, Kowalski hit the far wall and pushed off, flying back towards the running Massey.

The rogue stormtrooper opened the outer door of the airlock, and turned to find Kowalski flying towards him. He raised a hand, which held what appeared to be a detonator. Kowalski fired his blaster as Massey pressed the button.

Massey collapsed backwards from the blaster shot as the airlock door slide closed. Moments later, Kowalski found himself flung forward by the shockwave of the silent explosion of the shuttle.

The wall of the shuttle bay sped towards him. He slammed into it face first, and everything went dark.

* * *

The scene that unfolded before Ahsoka was almost surreal. One one hand, Crespi had gone beserk, while on the other, one of the aliens had backed off from killing Kaeden, and she had simply walked past them all, sealing up the turbolift shafts with mining charges.

With a second explosion, the second turbolift was blocked. The mangled wreckage of the turbolift car, which had at one time bottlenecked the aliens and was likely the only reason they were alive, fell down the shaft with a screech and a hail of rubble. Any aliens still climbing the shaft would be knocked off the walls and broken to bits on the floor several thousand feet below.

While it was a pain to do so without her lightsabers functioning, Ahsoka, Barriss, Hoop, and the enraged Crespi managed to pick off the remaining aliens in the loading dock through combined use of blasters and Force-assisted crates and mining samples.

When all was said and done, about maybe a dozen alien corpses lay shattered and sizzling under broken crates or riddled with blaster holes.

They waited, blasters held tensely at the ready for a minute, waiting to see if there were any stragglers. Aliens they might have missed that lurked in the shadows, but Ahsoka could sense nothing moving.

Finally, Hoop ran over to the dropship, resuming the repairs on the second power cell. Ahsoka started running over to help out, when she heard Barriss yell “Crespi, no!”

A blaster shot rang out and Kaeden yelped in surprise.

Ahsoka whirled to see Kaeden ducking behind the cover of a small crate, clutching a graze on her shoulder, and Barriss holding the old clone in the air with the Force.

Crespi’s voice was wild as he struggled against the bonds of the Force. “Don’t you understand? She’s a threat to us all! If we take her on the dropship, we’re all dead!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say other than I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! We are approaching the endgame now, probably only about four more chapters and the epilogue left for Shadows of Doubt. As always though, feel free to comment on anything you saw in this chapter.
> 
> Next Chapter: The race for survival turns into a race against time to prevent Massey from escaping with alien specimens. But will anyone get left behind?


	15. Demons of Past and Present

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the survivors finally leave the surface of Tartarus, Crespi admits his guilt to Ahsoka and the old wounds of Order 66 are re-opened. Meanwhile, Kowalski encounters the alien of Charon Station and learns the truth about Massey's intentions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I got a question a few times about the previous chapter so I thought I'd address it here. There are no inhibitor chips in the clones in this AU. I just really don't like the inhibitor chips, and I feel the clones are more interesting without them, but that's just my personal opinion.
> 
> Now with that said, let's get on to the good stuff!

Kowalski blinked his eyes open. There was no sound, no heat, no alarm, just pain shooting through him. As he came back into control of his limbs, he saw the wreckage of the shuttle, blackened and twisted by thermal detonators. The vacuum had quickly snuffed out the fire, and somehow Kowalski had escaped without any major injuries. He was likely concussed, if the ringing in his head was any indication, but that would have to wait.

He had to stop Massey. He had to prevent the alien specimens from ever leaving this system.

One of the shuttle’s wings had carved a slash into the wall of the docking bay, bisecting the airlock. Clawing his way along the wall, Kowalski slipped through the gash to find a trail of blood leading out of the airlock. Forcing the doors open, Kowalski noticed that the trail led deeper into the space station.

His single shot from earlier must have wounded Massey.

Without hesitation, there was no telling how long he had been unconscious, Kowalski took off in pursuit, following the trail of blood through the silent hallways.

* * *

If looks could kill, the glare that Ahsoka eyed Crespi with would have incinerated him. “Drop him,” she snapped to Barriss. The Mirialan nodded and released her hold, not about to question the pissed off togruta standing above the shaking clone.

“You’d better have a good kriffing explanation for that!”

Crespi looked her in the eyes and, to his credit, did not back down. He gave no apology or pitiful display of begging for mercy. “You know as well as I do what’s going to happen to Larte. It’s inevitable. And if the alien she carries bursts out in the dropship, we’ll all be done for. Even if we kill it before it grows, the acid blood will burn a hole right through the hull.”

“And so you propose we kill her?” Ahsoka yelled, not even trying to hide the anger and disgust on her face or in her voice. “That’s not your decision to make.”

“It’d be a better death than that thing chewing through her chest!”

“He’s right, Ahsoka,” Kaeden’s voice was quiet as she spoke, full of sadness, but understanding. “I don’t know how much longer until it births, and there’s no way for us to remove it. I don’t have a choice left.”

Ahsoka turned towards her. Her eyes wide with shock. “Don’t say that! There’s always a choice, Kaeden.”

“Sometimes there isn’t.” Crespi said softly, his voice haunted. “Sometimes you don’t have a choice. No time to think, all you can do is act.”

Kaeden gave Ahsoka a slight, sad smile. “If I have to go, I’d rather it be on my own terms. I don’t really see any alternative.”

_ No. _ Ahsoka thought. Reaching out with the Force, she touched Kaeden’s mind and with the wave of a hand, Kaeden fell limply to the floor.

“Place her in the airlock,” Hoop yelled from the dropship. “If it… hatches or whatever it does, we can space it without endangering us or the ship.”

“Seems like a fair compromise,” Barriss said, but immediately shut up after Ahsoka whipped her head around and glared daggers at her. But Ahsoka sighed and finally nodded consent to Hoop’s suggestion.

“I’ve installed the second power cell,” Hoop said. “We can leave whenever you give the word.”

“Barriss,” the Mirialan jumped at Ahsoka growling her name, something that gave Ahsoka a slight twinge of satisfaction. “You pilot us out. Mr. Crespi and I are gonna have a little chat. I want off this planet.”

* * *

Teraan struggled up the ladder as the rock behind it became lesser and lesser. She had almost fallen off the ladder a couple times, a part of it below her had fallen away completely and left her dangling, and her shoulders felt like they had been strained to the max, and then some beyond that.

But finally, at long last, she had made it to the top of the emergency ladder, still some ten-twelve feet below the lip of the turbolift shaft. Someone had blasted it all away with explosives, and luckily for Teraan, the blast had left plenty of hand and footholds for her to use. Climbing it with a crushed ankle would be a challenge though, but she had come this far and would not give up now.

She had made it halfway up when there was the blast of engines roaring from above her. Teraan almost lost her grip, but quickly pulled herself up. She’d have to move quickly.

No time left for caution, Teraan put all her remaining energy into one last jump. Hands found the durasteel flooring of the loading dock and she screamed against burning muscles as she pulled herself up.

Rolling over, Teraan saw their shuttle missing and what appeared to be a mining dropship of sorts rising onto repulsorlifts.

“WAIT!” Teraan screamed, waving her arms over her head as she hopped awkwardly on one foot towards the dropship. But its stern was towards her, and whoever was inside did not see her. She tried to run to it, placing weight on her shattered ankle and collapsing to the ground with a shout of pain.

“NO! DON’T GO!” The cry shredded her vocal cords as it came out, raw with pure emotion and despair. But her words were drowned out by the thundering of afterburners as the dropship disappeared into the reddish sky, leaving Teraan the sole human survivor left on Tartarus.

Tears flowed freely from the Alderaanian’s eyes, even as she squeezed them shut, pounding her fist into the durasteel floor. It wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t fair. She had made it all this way, barely scraping by with her life, only to be left behind to die at the final second.

Teraan just lay on the ground, pounding the floor with her fist and cursing out the survivors for leaving her behind, the aliens for separating her from her squad, and the minors for discovering and unleashing the aliens in the first place! She cursed everyone, letting her rage and frustration vent out until all that filled her was sadness and despair, and all that came out were gasping sobs.

_ If you go into space, you’ll die there. _ Kriff it all, Teraan wanted to live, to see her uncle again, maybe even visit her nerf herding parents. But blast it, what could Teraan do now?

She looked at her surroundings through tear stained eyes. A few destroyed mining offices, a wrecked communications room, and… a mining loader. A tracked vehicle used to load the samples brought up from the mine into the dropships.

She hobbled over to it, and somehow it appeared to be in good condition, minus the bloodstains inside from when the aliens initially overran the facility. Teraan busted open the steering console with the butt of her blaster and began hotwiring it, another survival skill that her uncle had taught her. With a growl, the loader’s engine sprang to life.

She next eyed the communications area, wrecked and mostly damaged beyond repair. Her comlink had been lost when she lost her helmet down in the mine, but if she could find what she wanted…

Teraan grinned to herself. She doubted that she had more than a half standard hour before the bomb below her went off, meaning it was time to get to work.

* * *

Kowalski crept through the darkened halls, following the thin line of crimson blood on the durasteel floor. He swung his weapon light left and right, illuminating various bits and pieces of machinery in the hold. The whole place groaned and creaked, as if it was shaking itself to pieces.

Multiple times, Kowalski paused at what sounded like the skittering of claws against metal. He had heard that sound before… right before the aliens attacked the first time, carrying away half the squad.

Kriff’s sake, there was another one up here as well! In the darkness of the dying space station, it would be even harder to spot.

Shadows moved to his left.

Kowalski ducked and fired, the muzzle flash illuminating the eyeless skull that he had come to hate. Kowalski rolled to the side and the alien landed next to him on all fours. It spun its head to hiss at him, and the stormtrooper pulled out a concussion grenade, jamming it into the alien’s mouth.

The grenade detonated, staggering the alien and disorientating it. It fell backwards for a moment, tail knocking his blaster across the ground as it thrashed wildly.

Without his weapon, Kowalski chose to sprint for the hold’s blast doors. As the alien threw off the last of its disorientation, Kowalski dashed through and hit the switch, closing the doors behind him.

He had been lucky. He was alive, but without his blaster. His grenade supply was exhausted, leaving the stormtrooper’s only weapons as the small plasma torch and his vibroknife. He didn’t like his odds if he had a second encounter.

The emergency lights were on in this hallway, just bright enough for him to make out the trail of blood. He followed it, knife in hand. Maybe he’d be able to get the drop on Massey. If there was one good thing about the damage he had taken, it was that his armor, blackened with soot and carbon scoring, would blend into the darkness better.

The trail led to a stairwell. He started up it, only to duck under cover as blaster fire pierced the ambience of the station. Running footsteps faded as Massey ran away from him.

Kowalski followed, mounting the stairs as quickly as he could. He found himself in a communications blister, blood trail leading out the door away from it. The main unit used for out-of-system communications had been damaged, but Massey had cannibalized it to make a short-range transmitter.

Hooking his comlink up to it, Kowalski keyed in the Captain’s frequency. “Crespi, sir. Do you read me?”

He did not see the shadows begin to move behind him.

* * *

Barriss and Hoop sat in the small cockpit of the mining dropship, Barriss doing the flying, while Hoop made sure that all systems were functioning as intended. There was another reason, however, for them to be there. With Kaeden still unconscious in the airlock, it left Ahsoka alone in the dropship’s cabin with the clone who had nearly killed her friend.

The glare she fixed on the clone was just as strong as it had been in the loading dock below. Her voice was almost a growl, full of menace and the guarantee that he would regret it if he refused to talk. “Mind telling me what happened down there?”

“I already told you my reasoning for what happened with Dr. Larte,” the clone responded, eyes hardened like durasteel.

“No,” came the counter from Ahsoka, “before that. You could have killed Kaeden at any time since that thing latched itself onto her face. But you didn’t. Not until I felt a huge spike of anger course through you during the alien attack. So what changed?”

The clone was silent for a long while. Ahsoka pushed, the anger in her eyes leaching out into her voice. “Hey, give me an answer Crespi!”

When he did speak, his voice was quiet, barely more than a whisper. “Crespi’s dead. The man who used to be him, died… sixteen, seventeen years ago. All that’s left is RC-709, formerly known as CC-0709.” He looked up at her, the strength in his eyes had faded, now almost looking like cracked glass. “You are right about one thing though, Tano, something did change down there.”

“What was it?”

“They say that people reveal their true nature when they’re on the verge of death. That those last moments will reveal who they really are. I stared death in the face, and I saw who I was: a murderer, broken and haunted by his past actions. That moment broke the facade I had put up for over a decade. It shattered my morality and left nothing but animal instinct. The instinct to survive. Larte posed a threat, so the instinct acted.”

“What did you see?”

“I saw something that I know for a fact you’ve experienced and re-experienced many times. I saw Order Sixty-Six.”

In the instant it took for her brain to comprehend those two words, Order 66, the memories flooded her. The confrontation of the clones, her desperate escape, and demanding the truth from Rex at the tip of a lightsaber. She shook it off, but RC-709’s eyes indicated he knew the memories she lived with and saw sometimes when she tried to sleep.

“Tell me about it,” Ahsoka’s voice lost some of its anger as she spoke.

RC-709 did just that, explaining the… closer than protocol relationship he had with his commanding officer, Jedi General Mylar Kila, a young Cathar Knight she had met briefly in the Temple, and the events of that terrible, tragic night. He paused at the comm message from the Supreme Chancellor, gathering himself for what had happened next.

“I didn’t want to believe the Chancellor, I knew in my head and in my heart that Mylar would never turn against the Republic she had fought and bled for. Even if the Jedi had committed treason, surely not all of them were guilty of it, right? But… orders were orders, even ones as terrible as Order 66. I decided to detain her, to try and figure out what to do next with her side of the story as well. But then I… I saw her killing her own men, my brothers. I couldn’t believe it. I understood afterward that she had done it all in self-defense, but in the moment… it made Palpatine seem verified, and I acted without thinking. I destroyed two lives with a single shot. I killed her, and I destroyed myself.

“Ever since that day, I’ve tried to pawn the blame off onto someone else. First I blamed her for killing her own men and forcing my hand, then I blamed Palpatine for giving the order, and finally I blamed the Separatists for the whole damn war. Later when I encountered Vader and his Inquisitors on a mission, I told myself that Mylar’s death was for the best. Better for her to die a Jedi than to live twisted and corrupted by the dark side, with everything that made her special to me perverted and evil.

“But down in the mines, those aliens, they brought those memories back somehow. Made them resurface. I twisted the truth as I always had, to shield myself from my responsibility, until finally they brought up the one I’d hoped I’d buried forever. The memory with which my guilt could no longer deny. The memory of what I had done… it came to me as I stared death in the face.”

Ahsoka was silent, processing this revelation. She had expected he’d carried out the order given his earlier statements, but she didn’t expect the raw emotion pouring out of the clone. But the fact that he and his general were in love! And he still did it anyways? 

“Why didn’t you disobey the order?” Her voice was low and deadly. “Captain Rex was similar to you at first. He tried to detain me and await confirmation on his orders, but in the end he chose to help me escape after I showed him that Palpatine had already destroyed the Republic. Why would you ever follow an order that causes you to harm or kill someone you care about?”

“Because when soldiers disobey orders, people die,” RC-709 responded, his eyes narrowing and burning with fire. “Deadshot, the clone who was my best friend, his squad was transferred in from a legion that was completely destroyed because his commander disobeyed the order to keep advancing. The droids regrouped while they were resting, and slaughtered 90% of his legion! And many clones knew about Ryloth, where you, Tano, _ you _ got your whole squadron killed because you disobeyed orders.”

Ahsoka snarled at the mention of that battle, baring her canine teeth. “That was different!”

“Was it?” RC-709 snapped. “Every order we give and take holds the lives of our men in our hands.”

“My orders didn’t tell me to betray and kill someone I loved.”

“There’s always a bigger picture that a frontline soldier doesn’t know. Information that I _ don’t _possess. Get the order and execute it if it’s lawful and justified. That’s what a good soldier does. When we stop to question every lawful order that’s handed down, we lose our effectiveness and our ability to fight and defeat our enemies. I received a lawful order from my Commander-in-chief, and the information I had available meant I carried it out. If I had refused, how many more of my brothers would I have lost that night? How many more might she have killed?”

“That doesn’t justify betraying and killing your girlfriend!” Ahsoka yelled at him in response. “She wouldn’t have killed any of your men if you just told them to stand down. She might still be alive and living with you if you had just ignored the order!”

“You think I don’t know that?” RC-709 stood as he shouted back at Ahsoka, his veins standing out in his neck. “I threw away my future when I pulled that trigger! Why do you think I still wear this armor, and fight for the person who ordered me to destroy my own life? I have _ nothing _ left in my life. Nothing other than one man, alone on your space station, and the thing that I was bred to do.”

Ahsoka said nothing, only glared at the clone through the scowl that twisted her face. All she could do was say what was on her mind. “You disgust me. After everything Mylar did for you, after everything the two of you went through, and you killed her anyway. You’re no better than a droid, you and all the clones who followed Order 66 to the letter like good little soldiers. I don’t know whether to kill you here and now, or let you wallow in your own misery.”

“And what about you?” RC-709 yelled back as Ahsoka began to turn away. “What would you do? What would you do if someone you loved appeared to have betrayed you? If they had killed your friends, your family, your brothers? Would you forgive them and welcome them back with open arms or would you take revenge and cut them down where they stood?”

Ahsoka stopped in her tracks, the clone’s words slicing through her hate and anger right down to her core. How would she react? What would she do if she faced Anakin again… if what she feared had happened to him was indeed true? Would she accept Anakin back despite the atrocities he had committed? Could she? Or would she strike him down given the opportunity?

Her reaction to merely seeing Barriss again was telling. It had merely scared her earlier. Now her reaction horrified her.

Ahsoka sighed and her head drooped. “I…” She forced the words out. “I don’t know. I truly don’t know.”

Hoop’s shout suddenly came from the cockpit. “There go the power cores!”

Ahsoka and RC-709 both looked out one of the portholes at the swirling sands of Tartarus below them. The explosion radiated outward from the mining complex, liquifying the mine and annihilating all the aliens that may have remained alive in the hive. 

As they watched the shockwaves and explosive clouds ripple over the surface of the planet, RC-709 spoke. His voice had lost its edge. “You do not need to judge me, Tano. I have already judged myself. I have no intention of leaving this system alive. I don’t deserve anything more than that. All that matters to me now is making sure the last survivor of my squad makes it out of here with his life.”

* * *

A new sound whined through the now silent tunnels of the Tartarus Mining Facility: the high-pitched whistle of power cores gone critical mass. The whistle changed in an instant to a thundering boom as the power cores exploded, spewing energy in every direction. Stone liquified in the intense heat of the blast as it traveled through the mine. Everything was obliterated, the mining tunnels, the ancient underground city, the alien ship, the remains of the alien hive. Everything burned as the explosion ran its course.

Above ground, a fireball plumed into the air. Ash, smoke, fire-blackened debris joined with the swirling sandstorms that plagued Tartarus. The shockwave from the blast expanded out from the mining facility, kicking up a wall of dust that tangled with the howling winds.

When all was said and done, the Kelland Mining Facility on Tartarus was a ruin of twisted, blackened, and half-melted durasteel, scoured by the driving winds and stinging sands of the hellish world.

Almost one klick away from the now ruined facility was another piece of wreckage. A tracked mining loader lay on its side, having been thrown about by the shockwave from the blast. Inside, an exhausted woman lay on her side against the door, looking out at the fireball dissipating in the sky. She lay her head on the cool transparisteel of the window and closed her tear stained, bloodshot eyes.

She had given it her all. Her body hurt all over from exertion and exhaustion. Marooned and abandoned, Blake Teraan drifted off. She had been fortunate to secure a jury-rigged transmitter from the facility’s ruined comm station, but she had no energy left to operate it. The time for action had passed.

It was time now, finally, to rest.

* * *

RC-709 walked away from her and sat alone, at the back of the dropship. Ahsoka read him through the Force, and all his anger, rage, and self-hatred had been replaced. All that was left in him now was… resignation. He had accepted who and what he was, come to terms with his past. She could sense now that whether he lived or died no longer mattered to him, all that mattered was making sure Kowalski, the last survivor of his squad, got out alive.

Ahsoka walked over to the airlock and peered through the window. Kaeden sat against the outer door, her eyes opening as she felt Ahsoka watching her. She grimaced initially, but gave Ahsoka a weak, sad smile. So far, she was still okay. Ahsoka nodded back, before turning away and heading for the cockpit.

She heard RC-709’s voice behind her. “Bren? Yes, I read you. What’s your status, trooper?”

Kowalski’s voice came next from RC-709’s comlink. “Massey destroyed the shuttle, sir. I pursued him through the station to a communications bay. He managed to jury-rig a short range transmitter to some ship in this system.”

“That’s odd, why not just escape in the shuttle? And who’s ship is he contacting?”

“I don’t know, sir. None of this adds up. Best guess is he doesn’t want to be traced?”

RC-709 was about to respond when Kowalski gave a shout of surprise, followed by the sounds of blows being traded, before Kowalski yelled again, this time in pain. A new voice, that of the rogue stormtrooper Massey, spoke faintly through the connection. “Let me clarify something for you…”

The link went dead in a haze of static.

* * *

Kowalski had been grabbed unexpectedly from behind, his helmet ripped off and his face jammed into the communications console, causing him to yelp both in surprise and pain. He threw an elbow behind him, but it was caught by his unseen assailant. Kowalski was rotated and clocked in the face by an armored fist.

He fell to the floor, spitting out blood and a cracked tooth. He flipped onto his back, only for a stormtrooper boot to kick him in the head. Stars flew before his eyes, but through them he could make out Massey’s face staring down at him.

“Let me clarify something for you, Brennan.” Massey said as he cut the connection to Captain Crespi’s comlink. 

“Massey, why? Why are you doing this?” Kowalski yelled up at him, spitting another glob of blood out, staining part of his already marred armor a crimson red.

“You very well know that I was once a bounty hunter. Pressed into Imperial service under threat of life imprisonment, I owe no loyalty to your Empire. My loyalties have always lay with myself. When we heard the distress call from here, I realized the creatures described in the transmission matched an expensive bounty issued by the Czerka Corporation.”

“So that’s it?” Kowalski spat back. “You’re doing this all for the credits?”

“I’ve always checked bounties before missions, trying to scrounge up enough credits to leave the empire forever. I don’t care for your ideology, Kowalski. I know you swear loyalty to the Emprie because the Rebellion killed your parents, but in the end all we can do is look out for ourselves. This bounty will net me enough credits to disappear completely. New name, new face, freedom.”

He walked over and locked the far door to the communications bay, then he went over to the bulging duffel bag laying on the floor. Opening it, he pulled out a large, ovoid thing. Kowalski’s eyes went wide with recognition. He had seen those before, in the Alien Queen’s chamber. Horror filled him as the realization of what was about to happen struck home.

“You can’t!”

“The bounty for these… facehuggers, is large enough,” Massey laughed. “But the price for an actual specimen inside a host’s body? I’ll live like a king.”

He left the alien egg on the ground in front of Kowalski, grabbed the now half-full duffel bag, and went to the communication bay’s other door. “Thank you, Bren. You’re gonna make me a very happy man.”

The egg opened with a squeal as the door closed, Massey watching through the windows with glee. Kowalski crawled backwards until his back hit the wall, gazing in fear at the spider legs that appeared on the lip of the egg.

Here he was, weaponless, wounded, and alone. He had seen what had happened to the poor victims of his squad that had suffered this fate. The facehugger perched momentarily on the lip, coiling its tail underneath it.

Then it sprang towards him, aiming for his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... rather dialogue heavy, but that was inevitable with the argument between Crespi and Ahsoka regarding his role in Order 66. Not gonna lie, that part of the chapter was both my favorite and least favorite part to write.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you guys all enjoyed this chapter. As always, feel free to let me know what you thought in the comments.
> 
> Next Chapter: Time is running out and multiple lives hang in the balance as the survivors of Tartarus return to Charon Station. Hounded by the last remaining alien, they must hurry to stop Massey and save Kowalski.


	16. Vengeful Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hounded by the last remaining alien, the final showdown on Charon Station begins as the survivors launch a desperate attempt to save both Kaeden and Kowalski's lives.

Ahsoka sighed as Barriss settled the dropship back into Charon Station’s docking bay. Wordlessly, RC-709 stood and opened the inner airlock door. Kaeden was still alive, at least, and she slowly got to her feet. She turned to Ahsoka, her eyes questioning. “Ahsoka… why’d you save me down there?”

Ahsoka sighed again, asking herself the same question. She reached deep down into her mind, shrugging off the fatigue and dark whispers caused by the events down on the surface and her argument with Crespi, trying to find the answer. To find the reason she acted as she did, even if it wasn’t As she recentered herself, it came to her easily.

“Because I believe there’s still a way to save your life,” Ahsoka said. “There’s always a chance. The medbay has to have something that will work.”

Kaeden smiled sadly. “I doubt it. I don’t know if my… condition can be fixed.” She turned to RC-709. “If… when it starts, end it, please. I don’t want to feel it coming out.”

RC-709 sent a quick glance at Ahsoka, then nodded slowly. “Sure, Doctor.”

Kaeden nodded back, then turned to face the airlock. “The last alien won’t kill me,” she said. “It knows what I’m carrying. It won’t jeopardize the future of its species.”

With that, the airlock door opened with a hiss and Kaeden marched confidently out back into the derelict ruins of Charon Station. No fear of the shadows. No hint of hesitation in her stride. She didn’t even flinch at the shudder of the station as it slowly tore itself apart.

Ahsoka didn’t think she had ever seen someone so brave.

* * *

Metal groaned as Dr. Larte strode purposefully out into the empty vestibule. RC-709 followed a few steps behind her, blaster up and ready for the two occasions he’d need to use it. Nothing sprang out at them from the shadows, but it did not fill RC-709 with any relief. 

Tano and the others had said there was an alien on the loose up here as well. It could very well be stalking them at this very moment, waiting for the opening to strike.

“Doctor,” he said quietly, attempting to make as little noise as possible. “What’s the quickest way to that communication’s blister?”

Only one thing in the entire galaxy mattered to RC-709. The last man of his squad was alone and in danger somewhere on this space station. All that mattered to RC-709 was the life of stormtrooper Brennan Kowalski. His own life or death meant nothing anymore, it was liberating in a way. None of the emotional baggage, the regrets of the past, to slow him down.

He now understood his role in the galaxy. He was bred for one thing: to fight and kill. Not much different from a droid actually. In the grand scheme of things he was no different than a droid. Every clone had been instilled from the start with the knowledge that they were each a piece of the Republic military, equally as important as the clone next to them. Which meant they were equally as unimportant as the next. Each clone was as unimportant as each droid they destroyed.

But Kowalski was not a clone, none of his squad had been. They had made him feel human again for some time, it was the least RC-709 could do to save him. Kowalski had purpose left in his life, RC-709 didn’t. But if he could use what he was bred for to do something good for once, then perhaps maybe RC-709 could die in peace.

Dr. Larte pointed at a hallway leading out of the vestibule. “Down that corridor through Hold 4 would be the fastest route. Medbay’s just on the other side of the comm station”

“Then that’s the way we’ll go,” RC-709 said, walking towards the corridor entrance.

“Shouldn’t someone stay with the ship?” Offee asked. “In case the alien cuts us off from escape, or if the station breaks apart and prevents us from doubling back?”

She looked at him, seeking tactical input. RC-709 shrugged. “It’d be smart to secure our escape route. But who will stay?”

Offee shook her head. “I don’t think I can either. Kaeden might need my help if we manage to make it to the medbay.”

“I’m not leaving Kaeden’s side,” Ahsoka said, the fire in her eyes just daring RC-709 to contradict her.

“I can’t stay either. My squad needs me.”

Offee turned to Hooper the engineer. “Can you even fly that thing?”

“Not very well,” Hooper admitted, “but well enough to keep from crashing, at least.”

Larte nodded to Hooper. “Keep your com open and the airlock closed. We’ll call if we need you.”

“Sure thing, Doc. Good luck,” Hoop said with a somber look on his face. He turned back to enter the shuttle.

RC-709 noticed Tano reach a hand to her temple, her eyes screwed shut in frustration. Suddenly they snapped open and she spun towards Hooper. “Watch out!”

The sleek, black shape of the alien shot out of an air vent, aiming straight for Hooper. The engineer got a single scream out before there was the wet thud of chitinous endoskeleton hitting meat. There was a gurgle, and crimson blood sprayed over the wall from Hooper’s neck.

The alien withdrew its steel tongue and turned to face the rest. RC-709 stepped forward, blaster locked on target. “Run! Go,” he shouted at the others. While Offee still had her blaster, RC-709 was their best fighter and they knew it, all pulling back behind him into the corridor opening. As he opened fire, the creature threw Hooper’s nearly decapitated corpse at him, knocking RC-709 off balance and causing his shots to go wide.

The alien lunged and RC-709 fell back, feeling the steel of biomechanical claws tear through the body glove on his leg. He grit his teeth against the pain as warm blood soaked into the form-fitting body glove and raised his blaster again, only to see Dr. Larte standing between himself and the alien.

The alien stopped, but RC-709 couldn’t get a clear shot off. It seemed to sniff at Larte, and RC-709 realized what she was doing. She was shielding him with her body, putting complete trust into the belief that the alien wouldn’t kill one carrying one of their own.

The alien snarled as RC-709 was dragged backwards into the corridor. Dr. Larte slowly backed up, never keeping her eyes off the creature. It matched her, step for step. As she made it through the doorway of the corridor, Tano slammed the emergency lever. The alien shrieked and charged as the pressure bulkhead slammed down. A loud clang reverberated through the narrow corridor as the alien slammed into it. It pounded the bulkhead momentarily, and then they heard the sound of it leaping up into the vents.

Larte immediately whirled and crouched next to RC-709, inspecting his wound. “Leave it,” he said. “We need to move now.”

It must’ve been something in his voice, because Larte did not argue, even though her eyes showed that she disagreed. Instead, she offered him a hand to help him up.

“Let’s find that comm station.”

* * *

Inside the comm station, Kowalski fought for his life. The facehugger… as Massey called it, had launched itself towards him. Bringing his knees in to his chest, Kowalski brought his feet into the facehugger’s trajectory. It’s legs wrapped around his armored boots momentarily, then released as it realized it had not struck him in the face.

Kowalski kicked out, sending the creature flying into the opposite wall. It slammed down, momentarily stunned, but quickly righted itself and turned back to him. Kowalski pulled out the small plasma torch he had and ignited it. The facehugger shrank back from the flame, scuttling away into the shadows behind some debris.

Massey’s taunting voice came from behind him. “Now now Bren, that isn’t fair to the little bug.”

“Kriff off!” Kowalski’s curse was met with nothing but laughter. He tuned it out, keeping his senses on high alert in the small room. A faint scuttling came from his left and he let loose with the plasma torch. 

Nothing.

The scuttling came again. It was circling him.

Blasterfire erupted near them, down in the hold Kowalski had encountered the alien. Both Massey and Kowalski instinctively flinched towards the sounds.

The facehugger sprang out of the shadows.

Kowalski whirled towards it and attempted to get it with the plasma torch, but it slammed into him before he could bring the weapon to bear. The plasma torch flew from his hands as he fell on his back and the facehugger landed on his chest. It crawled up his battered armor, and Kowalski grabbed it with both hands as Massey gave a triumphant laugh.

It was deceptively powerful for its size, struggling mightily against the stormtrooper’s muscles. The tail lashed out, wrapping itself around his neck in an attempt to choke him. Slowly it dragged itself up his torso closer to his face. 

A fleshy tube emerged from a slit in its center, snaking between his forearms. He felt it squirm across his neck and chin, moist and disgusting.

The revulsion gave him strength, and he stopped the facehugger’s crawl up his body. The tail around his neck tightened, choking him and almost making him lose his grip.

Blasterfire erupted again, extremely close this time. Shouts accompanied it. He could not identify who it was, his vision began to blur and swim as the facehugger cut off his oxygen.

Images flashed before his eyes. The one he focused on was the day he cherished the most. The day his older sister had finally managed to open her deep space salvage business. Lysa had been so happy, and he had been so proud of her. 

He knew he had to survive. Lysa had taken their parent’s deaths hard, but she had persevered through it with his help. If he died, he knew she would be absolutely devastated.

Brennan Kowalski would not put her through that pain. All he needed to do was hold on.

* * *

They had made it into Hold 4 before the alien struck again. It targeted RC-709 this time, as if it knew that he was injured and the slowest out of the remaining four. Barriss had used the Force to snatch him away from it over to Kaeden, who had made it to the exit, leaving Ahsoka staring down the alien in his place. She was unarmed, but no Jedi, even a former Jedi, was ever defenseless.

The alien dodged the occasional blasterfire coming from Barriss and RC-709. The agility of the creature was astonishing as it scampered around on four limbs. Ahsoka baited it with herself, seeing as they seemed to target Force users. There were a couple crates scattered here and there that Ahsoka threw at it, but they did virtually no damage to the creature.

As she studied the creature, Ahsoka realized that something had changed about it, specifically the head. It had elongated and looked as if a crest was growing.

_ It’s evolving! _ She realized with a hiss. It was starting to grow into another Queen somehow!

The alien grinned at her with needle sharp teeth. Suddenly she felt a massive pressure on her mind, a mental blow which staggered her and knocked her to her knees. Images were forced before her eyes. Hatred. War. Death. Extinction. Images of the past forced into her brain by… by the alien.

The demon towered over her, steel teeth clacking and drool falling from its hideous maw. Death incarnate, the gaping black hole of the void about to consume her.

In that moment, Ahsoka Tano knew true fear.

* * *

Barriss had also been staggered by the hideous psychic attack of the alien, but she managed to shrug it off. It had been directed at Ahsoka, and she bore the brunt of the mental assault. Barriss came back to her senses as Kaeden sprang forward, once again throwing herself between the alien and its prey.

But this time her gambit did not work. The alien swatted her aside with a clawed hand, backhanding Kaeden across the face and sending her flying.

Her gambit did buy one thing though, time. Barriss remembered that Hold 4 had been used to process the loads brought up from the thorillide mine down on Tartarus. The industrial vats around them contained xenoboric acid and the floor had been specially reinforced to contain any acid spills.

Barriss summoned the Force to her, grasping the supports on one of the vats and crushing it. The alien swung its head at her in aggravation. She prepared herself for its mental assault. Knowing it was coming, her mental shields held under the psychic assault.

The vat of acid toppled as Ahsoka rolled to the side. Xenoboric acid spilled out of the downed vat, running along the floor as it did. The wave slammed into the alien’s legs and it screeched in pain as it lept backwards out of the flow.

The mental barrage ended immediately and Barriss saw the damage she had caused it. One of its legs had been melted away and it quickly retreated into the vents on three limbs. Barriss ran over to Ahsoka and Kaeden, helping them up off the ground. “What was that?” Ahsoka asked weakly, still shaken by the alien’s unexpected attack. Blood streamed from Kaeden’s nose. It had likely been broken by the savage claws of the creature.

“Don’t talk!” Barriss said. “Breathe as little as you can and run!”

RC-709 sealed the Hold behind them as the left the acid to slowly eat through the machinery in the room. As they ran up a flight of stairs, Barriss and Ahsoka locked eyes, not comprehending what had occurred down there. Barriss had noticed that the alien had begun to morph somehow into a queen. How that was possible, she did not know. Was it possible that the queen aliens had some sort of psychic ability?

RC-709 reached the top of the stairwell first and Barriss felt a rush of anger immediately surge through him. He opened fire with his blaster at someone, who Barriss saw was the rogue stormtrooper Massey. Massey fired back, and Barriss joined the fray with her blaster as well.

Massey retreated, taking a blaster shot to the thigh from RC-709. Barriss looked inside the room Massey had been standing outside of and her eyes widened. Thrashing about on the floor was Kowalski. He struggled against one of the alien spider crabs, and he was losing.

Summoning the Force, Ahsoka blasted the door open. RC-709, Ahsoka, and Barriss all ran in to help the stormtrooper. Ahsoka grabbed the creature’s tail, slowly uncoiling it from Kowalski’s neck. RC-709 grabbed the creature’s spider-like legs and pulled it away from Kowalski’s face. “Offee!” He yelled. “Get ready to blast it in the corner!”

“Ready!” Barriss yelled back as Ahsoka finally got the tail free of Kowalski’s neck. The stormtrooper gasped, reaching up to his neck as he gasped and coughed.

“Now!” Ahsoka and RC-709 threw the alien parasite into a corner of the room. All Barriss had to do was point and shoot. Two red blaster bolts tore through its small body. It squealed and curled in on itself as it died.

“We…” Kowalski gasped in a scratchy voice. “Need to… stop him. He… has one more”

RC-709 knelt next to the last member of his squad. “You okay, son?”

Kowalski squeezed his eyes shut and gave a violent shake of the head. “I’m good. Let’s go.”

Barriss handed him her blaster. He was the better shot after all and his was nowhere to be found. Kaeden stood in the doorway, looking out where Massey had gone. “He’s headed for the medbay. It’s the only airlock left.”

“He must be meeting someone there,” Kowalski rasped. He began after Massey, taking point. “He has to be stopped. That specimen he has can’t be allowed to escape.”

As they began to move off in the direction of the medbay, there was the sound of something banging around in the ventilation ducts. One of the grates covering a vent in the ceiling was forced out, falling to the ground with a clang. Following it, silhouetted in the red emergency lighting, was the alien.

It crouched on all three of its remaining limbs and snarled and screeched at the survivors. The eyeless head swiveled to a stop dead center on Ahsoka. The maturing queen once again unleashed its psychic attack, but both Barriss and Ahsoka knew it was coming and stood firm.

Ahsoka ripped panels from the walls and brought them together to create a shield to hold the maturing queen at bay. She yelled as she slowly backed up, the maturing queen denting the makeshift barrier. “Go!”

* * *

Massey stumbled into the medbay, clutching his thigh as he beelined for the airlock. One of the dangerous cargo he was transporting was lost and ruined. Whether or not the facehugger infected Kowalski was irrelevant now because of that old damned clone he called ‘Captain’. In his current state, Massey would never be able to take them all out by himself.

The facehugger he had would still net him a nice sum, but not as much as the specimen that would come forth from Kowalski would.

He checked his datapad as he paused next to the airlock. He had arrived earlier than expected with the unwelcome appearance of the others. The drone ship was still approaching and would dock at the airlock in a matter of minutes. Kriff it all he didn’t have that long before the others caught up!

He’d have to barricade the door and hope it held.

Massey went to put his duffel bag on a counter when it lightened suddenly. The other alien egg had opened and fallen out of a melted tear in the bag.

Massey froze. The facehugger was loose!

He set his blaster to stun as he scanned the room. He looked under the medical beds and in the nooks and crannies he could see.

What he didn’t see was the facehugger scuttle up onto a piece of medical equipment to his left. It coiled its tail and sprang out to accomplish its solitary goal in life.

Massey saw it coming in the corner of his eye. He whirled quickly, snapping off a shot at it. The stun blast missed, but the facehugger did not.

Its tail wrapped itself around his neck as Massey flailed backwards. Legs wrapped around his face and Massey was inundated by darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so the endgame begins. There's probably only one chapter left plus the epilogue for Shadows of Doubt.
> 
> I decided to try something new on the fly in this chapter in regards to the aliens. Let me know what you guys think of it, and who you think will survive and who will fall!
> 
> Next chapter: The end of Charon Station comes. With the last alien chasing the survivors, a leap of faith is the only thing left that can save them.


End file.
